Helga Pataki's Christmas
by Azure129
Summary: Twas yet another Christmas, and thanks to an obsessive drive, Azure129 decided to keep this holiday story in progress and alive! How many more years can she let this fic continue to grow? Well the world didn't end so the answer is...who knows? XD Merry Christmas, all :) Send me egg nog and gingerbread, please!
1. Snow

_Reposted with grammar edits on 1/2/2010._

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**A/N:**

Hello HA! fandom! Man, I have missed you all so much lately—I've spent the last month or so immersed in tests and school papers, and then my sister and her family just moved in with us, and we got a puppy (ok, that last part hasn't been ENTIRELY difficult to deal with—he's SO cute, lol!!!) so I feel like I haven't written in ages. And now I can't believe it but it's Christmas again too!!! Speaking of which, here's a story I've been working on for the past week that I randomly got inspired with one night, and I hope you all really enjoy it. I also hope it makes up for the fact that the next chapter of Tutoring Arnold is…uh…going to be a little while in coming (I hate my writers block so much). Until then though, I hope you'll all have fun reading this story and in the future a sequel to my songfic Closing Time that I've been working on and a new fic that I'm actually going to be posting in the Danny Phantom section (I've never written a non HA! Fic, so I hope it comes out well and if any of you guys are fans of the show I hope you'll check it out :) ). So without further ado, here is my first Christmas fic—Enjoy!

This story takes place after "The Jungle Movie" but before "The Patakis."

**Disclaimer:**

I don't own HA!, but it would be a great Christmas gift. Until then, this show belongs to Viacom, Nick and Craig Bartlett :)

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**Helga Pataki's Christmas**

(aka Another Excuse for me to put off finishing **Tutoring Arnold**)

**Chapter 1:**

**Snow**

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"Bye Harold, bye Sid, bye Stinky!" called a smiling Arnold to the three friends now departing from his house.

The trio of boys stood in winter coats and wool hats, the blue cold night around them contrasting distinctly with the warm orange and yellow glow coming from Arnold's doorway, where our football-headed hero stood as he watched some of his classmates depart.

"Bye, Arnold!" called the three boys in unison as they headed down the sidewalk together.

"It was sure nice to see you and yer' parents again!" added Stinky before they all disappeared around the corner.

Arnold's already full smile couldn't help but widen at this last remark. Hearing it was something he had only been able to imagine for the last nine years of his ten-year-old life. That had all changed this past summer though, after he, his Grandparents, and quite a few of his friends had defeated the plot of the evil La Sombra and found his parents safely living in San Lorenzo, and as happy as possible to see their son again.

Stinky's comment about getting to see Miles and Stella _as well as_ Arnold again was in reference to the biggest effect of Arnold finding his parents (besides his total elation); he was living with them now. However 'with them' meant staying in San Lorenzo, and staying _away_ from his friends and grandparents. It had been a very difficult choice for Arnold to make but, after a family talk, all three had agreed to stay with the Green Eyes for only as long as it would take to make sure that there could be no more danger to their culture now that La Sombra was out of the picture (a few months at least, possibly a few years at most).

However, they weren't about to spend the most important time of the year not surrounded by friends and relatives, and so Miles and Stella had surprised Arnold with a plane tickets for all of them to spend Christmas on Vine Street this year. They had arrived two days ago and Arnold had been so looking forward to seeing all of his friends and the citizens of Vine Street that he had decided to have a big Boarding House Christmas Eve party for everyone. It was winding down right now. actually, and had gone quite well. In fact, practically everyone in Hillwood that Arnold knew had come to see him and his parents again on this night. Well…everyone except for _one_ person at least…

'_I just can't believe that my parents managed to save an entire culture of people…' _Arnold thought to himself, closing the door to keep the heat in the Boarding House from escaping. At first, Arnold had had mixed feelings about the fact that his parents had chosen to help the Green Eyed people over returning to him in Hillwood all those years ago. Yet, after he had spent an entire summer bonding with the members of the civilization he had come to understand just why they had made their decision—to help save hundreds of families just like theirs, and hundreds of kids just like himself. '_If only La Sombra hadn't kept them from having any contact with the outside world…then at least I could have been talking to them and telling them about my life for the last nine years…_'

Arnold sighed and suddenly found a frown on his face. Realizing though how dwelling on such 'what ifs' was only ruining the wonderful reality that his parents were finally here and that their family was finally complete, Arnold turned his thoughts instead back to the remains of the Christmas party currently inside of the Boarding House.

Looking around, it seemed Harold, Sid, and Stinky had in fact been some of the last guests to leave. Suddenly, though, he heard voices from the den and walked down the foyer in that direction, only to see Gerald and Phoebe, arm in arm, exiting from the aforementioned room.

Arnold smiled at his best friend (wearing a Santa Hat over his hair) and his best friend's current unofficial girlfriend (sporting a red Christmas sweater instead of her usual pale blue one). He wasn't sure exactly what had happened between them during the summer in San Lorenzo but, ever since then, he had been receiving letters from Gerald hinting at a relationship between him and the young Japanese-American girl. And now that Arnold had seen the two flirting and spending time together at the party, it only confirmed his suspicions that they were finally an item.

"…So, then I said to my man Fuzzy, 'Keeper of the Tales', I thought you said 'Eater of the Snails'! And there I was, all prepared and terrified to have to eat escargot and instead I get assigned as teller of urban legends for P.S. 118. Man, that was some sixth birthday!"

Phoebe giggled. "That was certainly a delightful tale, Gerald."

"Well, you were delightful company to tell it to—" Gerald began to reply smoothly.

He stopped, however, as Arnold averted his eyes and cleared his throat to alert the two of his presence, feeling slightly embarrassed at suddenly being in the middle of their intimate conversation.

Gerald looked away from Phoebe and instantly focused on the presence of Arnold. He blushed and his left arm separated from Phoebe's right one, and went behind his back bashfully along with its mate. Phoebe blinked upon noticing Arnold and held one of her hands in the other in the front of her body modestly, a pink tinge likewise coming to her face though she was smiling.

"Uh, hey man, what's up?" asked Gerald, innocently.

Arnold smiled and gestured toward the doorway. "I was just saying goodbye to Harold and Sid and Stinky."

"Mmm, mmm, mmm, man, I can't believe how many people you managed to fit in this Boarding House," Gerald remarked, looking around the place and remembering just how many guests had managed to be packed inside. He turned back to Arnold. "And I still can't believe you sent an invitation to Sheck's parole officer, and that the guy made him show up at the door to say Merry Christmas—that was classic, Arnold!" Gerald laughed. "You are still an undeniably bold kid."

Arnold shrugged. "I just wanted to show him that now is no time for grudges. Everyone deserves to feel welcome on Christmas. Besides, it's been over nine months since the FTi incident."

Phoebe smiled. "That's very admirable, Arnold."

Gerald smiled and removed a camera from the pocket of his jeans. "Yeah, and it's also pretty cool that I got photos of it. Man, after I use Jamie-o's computer picture program to edit in some elf ears or reindeer antlers on the guy, this is so the cover of next year's Christmas cards!" He grinned, displaying on the digital screen a photo of Sheck in handcuffs looking livid as he stood in the doorway of the Boarding House. A snowy street was in the background and in the lower left corner a Billy club could be seen casually poking him in the side, urging the arrested former business conglomerate to be nice to the polite ten-year-old party host who had invited him.

"Gerald!" exclaimed Phoebe, looking angry and a bit surprised upon hearing what he was planning to do with this picture.

"Uh, well I-I mean…" Gerald began to backpedal.

Phoebe suddenly smiled at him, however. "Why use your brother's computer when you can easily come over and use mine? I can even make Sheck look like he's riding in Santa's sleigh if you'd like." She winked and Gerald grinned at her, pleasantly surprised at her response.

"I'd take a calendar of photos like that," Arnold joked.

Gerald shook his head, smiling. "You got it, man."

The three friends shared a laugh and then stood in silence together, just enjoying their company and their reunion after so many months that had felt like lifetimes because of their youth.

Finally, Gerald broke the silence, sighing with satisfaction. "Yeah, it seems like you got everyone from Hillwood that we've ever met here…Harvey, the Pigeon Man, even that old Mr. Bailey showed up!"

At this remark, both Arnold and Phoebe's faces fell slightly. Phoebe spoke. "Yes, _almost _everyone came…Speaking of which, perhaps I had better call Helga tonight and ask her if she's feeling well…"

Instantly, Gerald's eyes widened as though he was suddenly remembering something he had forgotten. He didn't say anything though but just glanced from Arnold to Phoebe, seeming to be in thought.

Arnold agreed with Phoebe in a distracted voice. "Yeah…maybe I will too…" The two preteens shared a look.

After a moment, Phoebe turned back to Gerald. "Well, I suppose we should be leaving, then." Her smile had returned.

"Huh? Oh yeah…" Gerald replied, seeming to come out of a thought he was having.

Arnold smiled. "Well, thanks for coming you guys, and thanks again for the gifts."

Gerald smiled. "Sure thing, man. I figured that two dozen pack of mosquito repellent would help you out down south." He winked.

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Yeah, it'll probably come in handy." He turned to Phoebe. "And thanks for the compass, Phoebe." He removed it from his pocket and glanced at the face. "It took me ten years to figure out how to get around _Hillwood_ by myself and _it_ has street signs. At least now I'll know what direction I'm going in while I'm in the jungles of San Lorenzo."

Phoebe smiled at his humor. "Dooitashimashite, Arnold." She turned to Gerald and held out her arm again. "Well, shall we then, Gerald?" she asked, smiling. (A/N: Dooitashimashite means 'You're Welcome' in Japanese :) ).

Gerald smiled back, loving how close they had become as fifth graders. Something made him hesitate accepting her invitation though. "Actually, I have to ask Arnold something, if that's okay? I promise it won't take long."

Phoebe looked from one boy to the other. She understood the occasional need to talk to a best friend in private (she had had more than her fair share of those with Helga), and nodded. "Of course, Gerald. I'll just go to the kitchen and see if I can get us some hot chocolate for our walk home." She went off down the foyer.

Arnold raised an eyebrow at his best friend. "Is everything okay, Gerald?" Arnold and his parents had only been able to stay in the city for a few days for the holiday and they were leaving tomorrow. As a result, if Gerald had a problem that he needed to talk to his best friend about, Arnold wanted to be there for him now while he still could.

"Huh? Oh sure, no 'major crises' to speak of," replied Gerald, much to Arnold's relief. "Sorry," he added with a sheepish smile, and the football headed boy couldn't help but give his friend a bit of a sarcastic look about this comment on his compulsions to advise and help other people.

Gerald reached for something in the pocket of his coat that was hung on a rack nearby. "It's just that what Phoebe said reminded me of something." He handed Arnold a medium-sized rectangular wrapped parcel, done in blue wrapping paper the color of late evening shadows on snow and topped off with a bow that was a very familiar and characteristic shade of pink, though Arnold couldn't quite place it at first.

A secretive look came to Gerald's face, and he made sure to check and see if anyone else was listening before he spoke up in a low voice. "Helga stopped by about an hour ago and asked me to give you this, but not until the party was over and not until no one else was around." He held up his hands defensively as a surprised Arnold turned the present in his hands. "I swear, Arnold, I wanted to tell you right away but she swore I would be using my intestines as a jump rope before New Year's if she found out I did anything but what she wanted."

Arnold continued to examine the simple but beautiful box, noticing the bow's classic color even more now that he knew whom the gift was from. Gerald continued. "I'm telling you, man, that girl did some cool stuff for you in San Lorenzo and you might 'like' each other and everything, but she is still the scariest person alive when she wants to be."

Arnold smiled at this last remark and shook his head, placing the present on an end table. He noticed that the card simply read. 'To A, Love H.'

Something else very significant besides finding his parents had happened to Arnold while he was in San Lorenzo. He had not only come to understand Helga Pataki's love for him, but he had found in his heart after all of the adventures and sacrifices and realizations a certain affection for her as well. In fact, the last thing he had done before her and the rest of his friends and family had boarded the plane back to Hillwood was to tell her his feelings and kiss her…though, much to Helga's annoyance and Arnold's embarrassment, Gerald had interrupted this tender moment, effectively ruining the ambiance as well as bringing him into the Arnold-Helga loop. To Arnold's surprise, his best friend had been cooler with the whole thing than might have been expected, and had even done a great job of keeping it all a secret from the other kids despite his obvious temptation to use the information to mock and ridicule Helga for the rest of her life.

Arnold came out of his reminisces and looked up at Gerald. "Did she say why she didn't want to come in? Or where she was going? I mean," Arnold glanced away, still uncomfortable sometimes with the subject of Helga, even with his best friend, "My parent's really wanted to see her again…and—and I…"

Gerald sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. "I asked here where I should tell you she was going, but all she said was 'Merry Christmas, Gerald,' and left."

Arnold's face fell at the sound of this news. In contrast, a hopeful smile came to Gerald's face as he added, "But I _did_ notice though that she got onto a bus heading out of the city—looked like Murray's. Maybe you could call him up and ask him where he took her?" Murray had become a great friend after the FTi incident, often giving the kids free rides if necessary and even switching to the P.S. 118 bus route so that he could pick them up in the mornings for school. He couldn't thank them enough for reuniting him with his Mona.

Arnold smiled. "Hey, that just might work. Thanks, Gerald!"

Gerald smiled smoothly. "No problem, man!" The two did their secret handshake.

Gerald took a few steps in the direction of the kitchen. "Hey Phoebe! Do you need any help with the drinks?"

Hearing her cue that Gerald and Arnold were done with their private conversation, Phoebe instantly stepped back into the foyer with two Styrofoam cups of cocoa topped with whipped cream. "Right here, Gerald." She handed one to her new boyfriend.

Gerald took the glass and smiled, taking a big drink. "Thanks, Phoebe." The girl giggled as she noticed the whipped cream mustache now on his upper lip. "What? _What_?" he asked, confused. He turned to Arnold who made a motion for Gerald to clean away the mustache, which he did with a slight blush to his cheeks.

Phoebe's giggling subsided, leaving a smile in its wake. "Are you ready to depart, Gerald?"

Gerald grabbed their coats and handed her hers. "Your wish is my command." She couldn't help but giggle again.

"Merry Christmas, Arnold!" They both called back to their friend, and with that they left the Boarding House and Arnold behind them, arm in arm.

Arnold smiled at the sight of the happy couple leaving together. As the door closed behind them, though, the smile fell and he turned to Helga's present and sighed.

The silence now that the party was over was broken by the sound of some feet descending the stairs followed by the entrance of Arnold's now complete family.

Grandpa and Grandma in Santa and Mrs. Claus outfits stood with their son, Miles, in a green sweater and green elf hat, and his wife, Stella, in a red sweater and red elf hat.

"Heh, heh, heh—that's a good one, son!" laughed Grandpa, slapping one of his knees. "You tried to decorate a volcano to use in place of a Christmas tree one year and the thing erupted with lava on December 24th? Heh, heh, heh! That must have been some _un_-white Christmas!"

"Now, now, Santa," corrected Gertie, fully immersed in her Mrs. Claus persona, "You say 'Ho Ho Ho,' not 'Heh Heh Heh'—otherwise no cookies."

Grandpa rolled his eyes and swiped a cookie anyway from the plate she was holding, taking a bite. "Well, at least you can't have put raspberries into the cookies." He swallowed.

Grandma smiled and walked ahead toward the kitchen. "Nope…they were all in that fruitcake you ate a half an hour ago."

Grandpa's eyes widened as he swallowed the last of his cookie. Suddenly, his stomach gave a familiar and sick sounding rumble. "Oooh, 'twas the night before Christmas and Phil was stuck in the bathroom…"

Stella looked concerned. "Phil, would you like me to get you some seltzer or something?"

Phil smiled at his daughter-in-law. "No, thank you, sweetheart. This is just something that's going to have to work itself out the old fashioned way." Grandpa's stomach grumbled again and he looked in the direction that Gertie had gone and scowled. "At least _she_ tries though, Pookie! I knew there was a reason I missed her!"

Stella laughed at the old couple and pulled herself closer to Miles, who kissed her on the forehead.

Suddenly, the two noticed their son watching the four adults interacting with a large smile on his face.

Miles addressed Arnold. "Hey, Arnold. Did all of your friends leave?"

Arnold approached them, nodding. "Yeah. Thanks again for letting me have this party—it was great to see them all again."

Stella smiled.= "It's always great to see your friends, Arnold. If it wasn't for them, we might never have been able to see _you_ again."

Arnold smiled.

"Yeah," Miles glanced around the house, "Did Helga already leave too though? Your Mom and I wanted to thank her again. She did so much to keep you safe and to keep us together in San Lorenzo…" And it was true; Helga had genuinely gone above and beyond the call of duty last summer, practically throttling La Sombra for even looking at Arnold the wrong way.

Arnold's smile fell. "Actually…" he glanced back at the present on the table, "Helga had to leave…suddenly…and I never got a chance to give her her present." He turned back to his parents. "Is there any way you guys could drive me to meet her somewhere so that I could give it to her?" He looked up at them hopefully.

The two smiled at each other and then turned back to their boy. "Sure, son," said Miles. He turned to his father. "Dad, can I have the keys to the Packard?"

"Wait a minute," Grandpa looked to Arnold, "Is this one of those things involving your little girlfriend with the pink bow and the one eyebrow?"

"Grandpa?!" Arnold blushed. Despite the fact that he had admitted to Helga that he shared some of her feelings, the only outside person who knew definitely that they were more than friends was Gerald. This mutual, semi-intense boyfriend-girlfriend experience was still new to him and he was reluctant and a little embarrassed to talk about it at all, especially with his grandparents and parents.

"Girlfriend?!" Miles and Stella exclaimed in pleasantly surprised voices.

Arnold blushed and glanced away. "We're not…I-I mean, we're just…" He gave a defeated sigh. "Grandpa…"

Grandpa rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Arnold, it's so obvious! So did she have to tell you how she felt or did you finally end up figuring it out all on your own?" Along with not bringing up the kiss in San Lorenzo, Arnold hadn't mentioned the FTi confession much either.

Arnold blushed a fiery red and his eyes went wide with disbelief at his Grandpa's bluntness.

Grandma reentered the room with some fresh sugar cookies on her plate, answering for Arnold. "Ten bucks says Eleanor had to tell him—the men in this family have never been all that bright when it comes to figuring out women, right Phil?" She elbowed him and smiled.

Phil scowled and snatched a new cookie. "Well, if the _women_ weren't busy perpetuating elaborate ruses right from the start, then maybe—"

"Grandpa, can we just please have the keys to the Packard?" asked Arnold, desperate to get off this subject of himself and Helga as a couple.

"Yeah, Dad," added Miles with a sly look in his eyes, "If she's his girlfriend now, she might get pretty mad if he doesn't give her a Christmas present." He ruffled Arnold's hair.

Though Arnold was getting pretty embarrassed by the razzing, somehow that fact that it was being done to him by his now complete family made it not the worst thing in the world.

Grandpa scratched his head and said in a concerned voice to Miles and Stella, "Oh, I think I'd better come with you if you two are just learning about Arnold and Helga. That girl's been working on him for seven years now and there's a lot to catch you two up on." He grinned slyly. "Pookie, you coming too?" He turned back to Grandma.

"Absolutely not, Santa." Grandma pulled out a bag of candy canes from her holiday apron. "I've got to be here to give goodies to all the yuletide trick-or-treaters."

Grandpa sighed. "Pookie, that's not…Oh, whatever, just promise me you'll try to unload some of those fruitcakes too so that I don't make another mistake."

Grandma smiled. "Can do, Mon Capitan!" And with a salute she marched toward the kitchen shouting, "Attention Gingerbread Troops, prepare to fall in from oven basic training and go to the front door frontlines along with your candy cane and sugar cookie brethren! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!"

Grandpa rolled his eyes as she finally left the foyer. "Crazy old bird…" He turned back to Miles and Stella. "Alright, gang, let's get going!" He held the keys up in the air. "I'm so full of eggnog and cookies that I'm about to pass out for one long winter's nap though so, Miles, you drive!" He tossed the keys to his son.

Arnold sighed, resigning himself to the fact that this private moment with Helga might be a little more public than he had hoped.

"Well then, let's get going, Arnold," announced his mother.

The adults began to don their coats. "Where is Helga's house anyway, Arnold?" asked Miles, assuming that's where they were headed.

"Actually," Arnold grabbed a jacket and a scarf, "I don't think that that's where she went. I just have to call someone to make sure…" He grabbed the phone in the hallway and began dialing Murray's number.

After a few rings, the receiver clicked, "Hi Mona, Merry Christmas! How are you?...Great! How's your new baby, Craig?...That's good. We're fine. Is Murray there?..."

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"Well, here we are, Arnold!" announced Miles as he stopped along the side of the dark, desolate road, fringed with snow. "Are you sure this is the place?" he asked skeptically.

Arnold looked out the window at the bleak grey structure sitting before their car; a single piece of industrialization nestled almost unnaturally in this empty area on the outskirts of the city limits. He double-checked the familiar address printed on the nearby mailbox though just to be sure: 66613 Washington Street. He sighed. "Yeah, this is it…"

Arnold opened his back passenger door and stepped out of the vehicle. Stella, who had been sitting next to her son in the backseat and was looking particularly concerned about the place he wanted to go into, exited the running Packard as well.

She walked around the side of the car, and knelt down by her son, looking into his eyes. "Arnold, are you sure you don't want any of us to come in there with you?" She glanced at the building. "It looks dangerous…"

Arnold smiled. "It's okay, Mom: it's just the old FTi building. I know it looks big and scary, but I think I know where to find Helga." He glanced up to the top of the structure, and then turned back to his mother, smiling. "Besides, adventuring is in my blood, remember?" he added, referring to his parents' choice of profession.

Stella smiled and hugged him, then sighed. "Well…alright Arnold." She reached into her purse and pulled out a flashlight, giving it to him. "But if anything happens just turn this on at one of the windows and we'll come right in to help you." Arnold smiled and put the flashlight into a free pocket, happy to finally have an overprotective mom looking out for him.

Stella gave him a quick hug. "Now go!" She smiled.

Arnold returned the smile and headed for the FTi building.

"Be careful, son!" yelled Miles from the driver's seat. He turned to his father. "So, now, what's the deal between Arnold and Helga, exactly?" He raised an eyebrow.

Phil laughed to himself. "First, let me just take care of a little something." He fumbled in the pocket of his Santa coat (which he was still wearing) and pulled out a small holiday decoration. "Stella, could you move all the way to the left of the seat?" he asked.

Stella nodded and moved, curious about what he was planning.

With a sly grin, Grandpa reached back and used a Christmas ornament hook to fix the item in is hand just above the right passenger door. "Perfect, now when those kids come in here they'll have to pass under it together, heh, heh, heh!"

As Grandpa sat back down in the front seat, Stella and Miles noticed that he had put a large piece of mistletoe over the door.

"Phil!" exclaimed Stella, though she was trying to hide a smirk at the prank.

He laughed. "Heh, heh, heh!!! Just thought I'd give us a little yuletide entertainment when those kids come in the car! Oh, I'm such a wily old coot!"

Grandpa took a swig of cocoa from his thermos and turned back to his son, his laughter subsiding but his smile remaining. "So, now, you want to know the story between Arnold and Helga. Well, since young Arnold is gone and won't be able to 'die' from embarrassment," he rolled his eyes at his opinion of Arnold's overreaction whenever anyone brought up Helga liking him, "I'll can tell you both." He reclined back in his seat, stuffed to the brim with Christmas treats and dinner. "So, she's been teasing him and playing pranks on him and making his life generally unbearable ever since preschool…You know a bunch of obvious, young flirting stuff—"

Miles' eyes lit up. "Just like you and Mom?"

Grandpa smiled. "Exactly!" He took another drink of the cocoa. "So, anyway, according to your son it all started with some graham crackers when they were three years old…" And thus Phil commenced telling in detail his lengthy story about the misadventures of Arnold and Helga, much to the interests of Miles and Stella.

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Inside the now abandoned FTi building, Arnold turned on his flashlight, making sure to keep its glow away from the windows so that his parents wouldn't think he was in trouble. He walked over to the elevators.

"I wonder if these still work…" He pressed the 'up' button a few times but nothing happened.

He sighed, a half-lidded, defeated look coming to his face. "I guess I'll take the stairs."

Arnold approached the dark stairway and, thankful for the flashlight to see by, began to climb the several dark flights to the roof. Helga's present to him was still unopened and still in his hands.

* * *

Twenty minutes later he finally reached the doorway to the roof, panting from the long climb. "If she's not up here, then I'm going back to San Lorenzo _tonight_—scaling mountainsides has got to be easier than this."

Arnold reached for the door handle but hesitated touching it as the idea that Helga might actually be on the other side fully hit him. He felt a twitch in his stomach and tried to plan something to say to her, though nothing came to mind. Finally he just took a deep breath and decided that the words would come to him…somehow.

He gripped his present firmly, took a breath, and pushed open the door.

He blinked as bits of snow began to blow into his eyes. Apparently, while he had been making his long walk up to the roof, it had begun to fall. Arnold allowed the door to close behind him.

Getting over his surprise at the change in weather, Arnold shined the flashlight forward and glanced around. Suddenly, he saw the girl he was seeking sitting down against a wall, facing away from him. She seemed to be deep in thought and was playing with her unusually loose hair, a warm purple jacket wrapped around her pink and red striped Christmas jumper.

He took a step forward, his foot crunching on the new snow. That plus the glare of his light on a wall opposite her made Helga whip around in surprise. "Arnold?!" He heard that familiar way that she always said his name when she wasn't expecting him somewhere—a mix of surprise and alarm and just a touch of excitement—and smiled.

"Hey Helga…" he said meekly but with a smile, hands behind his back in a show of shyness as well as to hide the fact that he had her present for him with him.

Helga blinked and stood up. Her hair was down and blowing a bit around her face, making her seem older and quite beautiful, in Arnold's opinion. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her signature pink hair ribbon that she always used to nestle between her pigtails.

Arnold smiled at her with a half-lidded gaze as these thoughts passed through his head, and the familiar look made Helga blush. Instantly, she became very self-conscious of her hair. Despite the fact that her and Arnold finally had a mutual relationship, she still felt so giddy and so unbelievably elated whenever he seemed to think anything about her was beautiful that, in many ways, she still tried her best to tone down her appearance in an effort to keep her emotions from completely exploding inside of her when she was around him. Besides, she still somehow felt undeserving of so much attention from her beloved, though Arnold's encouragement at the end of their summer in San Lorenzo had started her on the process of realizing otherwise.

As a result of all of this, Helga automatically tried to put up her hair again minus her ribbon. However, between how damp the snow had made her locks, the slight wind, and the fact that her pigtails never held up too well anyway without the bow to secure some of her hair, she wasn't having much luck. Finally, Helga gave up and grabbed her red winter hat with the earflaps from her pocket, putting it on top of her head as a compromise and growling at her inability to resume her standard hairstyle.

Arnold blinked as he noticed her reaction, coming out of his thoughts. He approached her. "Helga, I'm going to think it looks nice with or without the hat, you know…" He smiled at her, causing her to blush a dark red. She tried to look like the comment annoyed her, though it was easy to see in her eyes that she was flattered, as usual.

Helga sighed and sat back down in her spot. "What do you want, Football Head?" she asked with a typical tinge of sarcasm in her voice, though it had lessened considerably since her pre-confession days.

Arnold sat down beside her. "Actually, I just wanted to know why you didn't come to my Christmas party?" he asked, turning toward her, a smile on his lips.

"Hey, I gave Tall Hair boy a present for you—Sheesh, I wouldn't have though if I'd have known it was gonna mean you'd be stalking me on Christmas Eve!" She looked at him, scowling. "Did Gerald spill the beans and tell you everything early, so now you're here trying to get me to go to the last few minutes of the party? If he did, I'm gonna—"

She punched her right fist into her left palm. Arnold interrupted her though, cupping her gesture of violence in his own two warm hands. "No, Helga, he didn't tell me until the party was over—believe me, I would have been here a lot sooner if he had. Have you really been up here all alone for an hour?" He looked at her, genuinely concerned.

Helga's scowl had completely fallen away at his touch, and now she spoke to him with a straight face and in her normal tone. She began with a sigh, looking forward. "I just needed some time away from my house—I mean, it's not like Thanksgiving or Olga's Birthday or something which tend to be really, really _bad_. Bob's actually at home right now whipping up tons of homemade eggnog, and Miriam's singing Christmas carols and playing the piano, and Olga's got the whole place decorated like something out of a magazine. So, it's nice, it's good for now…it's just _annoying_ though for some reason because…I don't know, because how it is just isn't how I'm feeling, I guess."

She paused and Arnold continued to listen. She glanced at him quickly, and then looked down. "I just wanted to go someplace that….that reminded me of me and that felt like me…like here." She glanced at the building.

A gust of wind blew and Helga shivered. "Of course, I'm the _genius_ who comes to an abandoned, heatless building on the coldest night of the year, and tells my ride not to wait because I don't know how long I'll be. And to top it all off, I was stupid enough to climb to the roof when it was still light outside and just realized twenty minutes ago that now that it's dark I have no way of getting down. At least _you_ had the common sense to bring a flashlight." She gestured toward the light still in Arnold's hand.

Arnold silently thanked his Mom for the flashlight, turning it off and putting it back in his coat to conserve its power. He then instantly took off his scarf and placed it around Helga's neck. "Here, this'll keep you warm." Helga had been about to refuse the garment but the sudden feeling of something full of Arnold's warmth and scent around her had rendered her speechless. She allowed him to wrap it around her, the wooly layers briefly hiding the smile that had appeared on her face.

Arnold then inched closer to her as well in a continued effort to keep them as warm as possible. "Well, I understand why this place means something to you…it…it means a lot to me too." Arnold briefly recalled her confession in his mind. "But how do you and the old FTi building _feel_ alike, exactly?" he asked sincerely, though something in his eyes suggested that he was only waiting for Helga to confirm an answer that he already had in his head.

Helga hesitated. Arnold was happy with his parents, and she didn't want him to understand just how much having him away was hurting her. She didn't want to spoil any of the time he was getting to spend with them with guilt over her problems. She continued not to answer.

However, Arnold had gotten very good at sensing Helga's moods ever since her confession and their time in San Lorenzo, and so he decided to hazard a guess. "You both feel a bit lonely and abandoned I guess, don't you…?"

Helga blinked and looked at him, not wanting to admit that it was the truth but finding it so hard to lie to him anymore. Why had all of his denseness seemed to vanish upon figuring out that she loved him and that he loved her too?

"Helga…" Arnold looked into her eyes, "You know, it's not for very long—who knows, I could be back next year, next Christmas. And I'll be visiting again in a few months…And you can always start writing me in the meantime…I gave you my mailing address in San Lorenzo before you left."

Helga swallowed hard at this comment and averted her eyes from his quite noticeably. She merely nodded and responded meekly, "I-I know."

A moment of silence.

Arnold grabbed one of her hands in his. "It's not enough though, is it?"

Helga still didn't answer. She didn't want to lie anymore but she wouldn't tell him the truth…she wouldn't tell him how the pain of spending her life without him was like an ocean wave of misery pounding dully but constantly against her every single day, slowly eroding her from the inside out. She wouldn't talk about how she couldn't write poems anymore…only those letters about her days that she shoved into boxes and couldn't send. The letters he seemed to want but that she couldn't seem to give him because somehow they would intrude upon his new life...and do something she couldn't quite express to her own existence. And she wouldn't talk about the sick feeling that washed over her whenever she went to her closet to get a dress each morning, only to remember how her Arnold shrine had once stood in there for so many years and was now locked tight away in the attic space above, unvisited for months. And she wouldn't talk about last October 7th when she'd taken out her Arnold locket to wish it a happy tenth birthday only to realize that for the first time ever she was looking at a picture of her beloved as he had been and not as he was (usually by his birthday each year the school photos were in and she would swipe one of his to update her locket). She had cried for hours that day…hours and hours and…

"Helga? Are you okay?" Arnold looked so concerned. Helga hadn't realized it, but as all of these thoughts had washed over her he face had grown sadder and sadder and her eyes had started to well with tears.

Arnold reached up and brushed one of the warm drops of water from her eyelashes. "Helga…I've missed you too, you know…"

And he meant it; he had missed Helga very much. So much happened to him each day in San Lorenzo that he wanted to share with everyone back home, but most of all with her…And the thing that made him want her there even more was that there were so many memories he could think of that he wanted to _make_ specifically with her in his new home: watching the sunset together in the mountains, dancing at the Green Eyes' festivals, going for walks near the perfect waterfalls whose mists created rainbows that seemed to have no beginning and no end…

Still, Arnold knew somehow that this separation was harder on her than it was on him. She had loved him longer and (he could feel) somehow loved him harder. But he had to spend this time with his family…it was just the way things had to be right now…Of course, Arnold had written a few letters to Helga from his new home trying to comfort her and giving her information about his days (though he had omitted his fantasies about what they could do there together out of shyness). However, after receiving no responses he had figured that rather than making her feel closer to him, his letters might be making things even more difficult for Helga. As a result, he had stopped writing until he could come home at Christmas and figure out what she wanted.

"I know you do…" was Helga's simple reply to Arnold's statement. And indeed, she knew he must miss her, and hearing him actually say it was a great comfort…But, still, it was only a small relief in the midst of a very big sadness that had forced her to harden herself much more than in the past—not outwardly towards others but inwardly toward herself.

"A lot's been changing, hasn't it?" he asked half-rhetorically.

Helga answered anyway. "Yeah."

Arnold took a breath. "Helga, would it be any better if I promised you something?" He looked into her eyes.

Helga turned to him confused, an eyebrow raised.

He shifted onto his knees, facing her. Her eyes widened, lost in his. Arnold grabbed one of her hands. "I _promise_ that I'll come back from San Lorenzo, Helga. And then we can be together everyday, just like we always used to be." He smiled and kissed her hand.

"Arnold…don't…don't say things...don't promise things that you don't know are going to be true…" Helga replied in a hardened voice, removing her hand from his. She looked downward.

Arnold put a hand to her chin and lifted her face up so that it was looking into his again. "It _will_ be true, though, Helga. Because I promised it to you, and I've never broken a promise to anyone, have I?"

He waited for a response. She nodded reluctantly.

"Right," he continued, "…and I could especially never ever break a promise to _you_."

Helga couldn't help but start to smile, intoxicated as she was by his familiar optimism. She knew what horrible things would happen to her inside if she believed him and he didn't come back. Somehow, though…somehow she had always known she could trust Arnold, and she trusted him now. "I believe you, Arnold," escaped her mouth without a single hesitation.

He smiled. She continued in a much more forceful voice. "I mean, I _really_ believe you, Arnold. And it means _a lot_ to me." She wanted him to understand what would happen to her if he was just saying these things to be nice. "Because I ne—need you Arnold and I…" She felt herself falling over her words. All of the suppressed emotions over the past four months were just too much. She was starting to cry and she didn't want to.

Suddenly, Helga felt his arms around her. "I promise, Helga. I'll be back one day. For good."

For a few minutes the two just stayed like that, hot tears spilling silently from Helga's eyes despite her best efforts to keep them at bay. Arnold could feel the moisture sinking through his jacket, and he was happy she was finally able to let out what was inside of her.

After a little bit, Helga was done. Tears weren't enough to express everything, and so eventually she just stopped crying them. She slowly pulled away from Arnold and he let her go.

She sat with her back against the wall again, knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around them, closing herself up like an oyster seeking protection in its shell.

Arnold sat back against the wall as well. He picked up the blue package next to him. "Well, I guess now's as good a time as any to open my present…"

Helga's eyes widened as she finally noticed that he had her gift with him. "Uh…" She was about to protest. However, she just couldn't come up with any viable reason why he shouldn't open it here if he wanted to except that she just wasn't expecting it. Honestly, by giving it to Gerald to give to her beloved she had thought that Arnold would wait until he was in San Lorenzo tomorrow night to see what it was. "Fine…" she finally finished in a level voice, looking off ahead again and flicking some snow off her knees.

Arnold turned back to the gift, and slowly unwrapped it. It was a bit flat, and not so big or heavy that he hadn't been able to easily bring it with him to the building. It wasn't so small, though, as to be able to fit into one of his palms, and he was more comfortable holding it with two hands.

Finally, the bow and paper were gone and in Arnold's hands sat a small, beautiful leather-bound photo album. He opened it up only to find pictures of himself, his grandparents, and all of his classmates in chronological order from the time of preschool through fourth grade inside. He flipped through the book, smiling at all of the memories before him. "This…this is…wonderful…" He neared the end and flipped past a few newspaper photos of himself, Gerald, and Helga after the FTi incident, and finally turned to the last page. Here, filling the entire space, was a single photo of his grandparents, his parents, all of his classmates, and himself in San Lorenzo just before the plane had taken off to return all but Miles, Stella, and Arnold to Hillwood. He tried to recall the picture being taken. _'So that's why Helga got us all together and yelled, 'Look over there, free Yahoo sodas_!' After not seeing one for three months, everyone had been desperate enough to actually look when she had said it, and the ravenous smiles on their faces attested to this fact. _'She must have had the camera on a timer…_' Arnold smiled to himself.

Arnold looked to Helga. "But how did you get all of these old pictures?"

Helga smiled and pushed her hair out of her eyes. "Believe me, it wasn't easy. I had to sit through a make over session with Rhonda, a lecture on animal rights from Sheena, a dance recital with Eugene, a Mr. Fudgy eating contest with Harold, oh and your best friend made me sign a contract saying that I would never pound you…" She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it probably would have all gone a heck of a lot easier and quicker if I had just told them all that it was for you, but then people would have asked questions, rumors would've been started…I do still have a reputation to maintain, Football Head." She winked.

Arnold was about to close the book when he noticed something wedged behind the final group shot. "What's this one of?" He slowly tried to slide out the hidden photo.

Helga's eyes went wide. She hadn't meant for him to notice that little extra addition until he was in San Lorenzo for a few weeks, casually flipping through the book one night only to stumble across it by accident. Seeing it right now, though, when she was right next to him on a frigid, dark roof in Hillwood had definitely not been part of her plan.

Arnold looked at the picture. It was a shot of Helga and him from preschool, actually playing together alone—a rare occurrence back then. Arnold studied the photo then turned it over. A message was on the back, a poem actually. The last poem Helga had been able to write since he'd left, though he didn't know it. He read it aloud. "Arnold: Meeting you was the best part about my life. Having you was the best part of your parents', I know. Please don't forget about Hillwood, or P.S. 118, or me, And I'll miss you while you're in San Lorenzo. Yours forever, Helga G. Pataki."

Helga blushed furiously and refused to look at him. Arnold slipped the photo back under the group shot and closed the album, placing it beside him atop the used paper. "It's the best present I've ever gotten, Helga. It's perfect."

"Yeah, well…you're welcome, Football Head…" she managed to mumble.

He couldn't help a slight laugh that escaped through his nose at her stubborn nature. "Would you like your present now too, Helga?" he asked.

Helga hesitated, then looked at him. "It's not something lame like 'the gift of friendship' or 'a handshake' or 'Christmas spirit', is it?" she joked.

He laughed aloud. "No." She still seemed skeptical. "I _promise_," he added with a touch of irony.

That addition finally caused her to crack a smile. In fact, just being near him made her feel so warm inside that she wanted to smile forever. That was actually one of the reasons she hadn't wanted to go to the party—she knew this good feeling inside was going to be sucked away the second Arnold returned to South America, leaving her empty and numb again. She just hoped at this point that the memory of what was happening here on the rooftop would tide her over until his next visit.

"It's two things actually," Arnold continued, in reference to her present. "Close your eyes."

Helga did as she was told. "If this is a yuletide prank," she began, " I swear I'm gonna—"

Suddenly, she felt something warm against her nose. It took her a second to piece together what Arnold must be doing, but then it hit her that he had his nose to hers. She shut up and swallowed hard, eyes still shut.

He placed an arm around her waist and placed his lips against her own, kissing her. Slowly but firmly, she kissed him back. It wasn't as passionate as the last kiss they had shared in that spot but, somehow, it was one of the most intense romantic moments of either of their two young lives.

The two remained like that for as many minutes as possible, finally separating when the physical contact after four months of separation was starting to make them both a little lightheaded.

Helga couldn't help the smile on her face, the half-lidded look of love in her eyes. "So…I'm guessing the kiss was part one of my present."

Arnold pushed against her so that they were leaning on each other, still sitting down. "Well, actually, the present was that Gerald didn't come along two seconds in to it with a look on his face like he'd just seen us having tea and cookies with La Sombra."

Helga chuckled to herself. "By the way, how's he been doing keeping 'us' under wraps?" she inquired, just to check up on how things were going with Gerald knowing.

Arnold raised an eyebrow. "Great, actually. He's still terrified enough of you that he would never talk. Kind of ironic since he's always telling urban legends and tales?"

"Yeah, a little," agreed Helga, nonchalantly. "I just better never walk in on him telling the story of the Lucky in Love Girl from San Lorenzo or I'll chop off that pile of hair on top of his head and use it to start the pilot light in my brownstone." She laughed to herself, and Arnold couldn't help the grin that came to his face at the colorful (if never-to-actually-be-carried-through) threats this girl always seemed to come up with.

A moment of silence occurred in which the two preteens relished the simple laugh they had just had—it felt so much like old times, in a way. Simple and fun.

Finally, Helga spoke up. "So…?"

Arnold blinked, coming out of his memories. "Huh?"

"So…where's part _two _of my present_,_ paste-for-brains? Duh! Sheesh!" She playfully punched him in the shoulder though, with her strength, the gesture actually hurt him a bit. He tried not to wince, but she could tell that she had indeed caused a bit of pain in his arm.

Helga sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well, since your _mom's_ not up here with us, I guess _I'll_ have to 'make it all better,' Football Head." Before he could protest, she pecked a kiss on his upper arm where she had hit it.

Arnold couldn't help but blush at the affectionate gesture, feeling a little giddy inside as he always did at experiencing her caring nature.

She just looked lovingly at him as always. "Well, are we gonna get to part two or what, Arnold-o?"

He shook his head with a smile. "Fine, but you've got to take off your snow hat first."

Helga hesitated. "Fine, but it's still a little windy. And I'm not very good at putting my hair up without my…uh…my…" Helga had been hoping to avoid the topic of her ribbon but she knew she had definitely just blown it.

Arnold's eyes lit up. "Your ribbon?" he suggested all-knowingly.

Helga blushed.

"Where is it, Helga?" asked Arnold, curious.

She half smiled to herself and rolled her eyes. "It's good to know there are at least _some_ obvious things you still don't notice, Football Head. It's one of my favorite things about you…" She picked up the photo album he had placed at his side and handed it to him with the spine facing up.

He glanced down at the area she wanted him to look at and blinked in surprise. The album wasn't something store bought, but rather a handmade gift Helga had put together…and the covers were bound at the spine with a very familiar pink ribbon done in patterns weaving up and down the height of the book.

Arnold looked up at Helga, surprised. "But, don't you want it back, Helga? It just seems like it's such a _part_ of you…And if I remember right, I always thought it added something nice to your hair…" he added with a smile to himself, recalling the memory Helga had reminded him of about their first encounter at preschool so many years ago.

Helga looked forward, her face seeming serious yet again. "Yeah, well…you're the only one who ever thought that, and now that you're gone…" That dead, sad look was coming to her eyes again and she could feel it. She quickly put herself even more on the defensive, moving away from the issue at hand. "Besides I…I needed _something_ to bind it together and it was the only thing that worked that I had on hand…" She turned away.

Arnold took one of her hands and placed its palm against the cool leather of the album which was now resting in his hand. "Helga, you don't have to lose who you are just because I'm not here…You're still Helga Pataki with or without me. If you still like wearing the ribbon, then you shou—"

"Arnold!" A touch of the old anger was back in her voice. She removed her hand from the object and pushed it toward him. "If you're that obsessed with the stupid ribbon being in my stupid life, then just take it for now and bring it back to Hillwood with the album when you finally move back into the Boarding House for good, okay? Crimeny, don't turn this into some kind of huge symbolic thing!"

Arnold blinked, a bit surprised at her snapping at him. He considered for a moment though and then glanced down at the album. Finally, he nodded to her with an understanding look and placed the gift into his interior coat pocket.

Helga was doing her best to hide it but, inside, giving him this ribbon really did mean something to her. In her mind and heart it increased the hope for her that he would come back because he now had something physical and significant to return to her. And, in addition, well…somehow the ribbon was the _old_ Helga, the _unrequited_ love Helga, the _child_ Helga…and if she was going to have to be alone for a while she wanted a chance to explore a Helga beyond those things so that when Arnold finally returned permanently she would be ready to finally have a _real_ relationship with him, and finally feel like a _real_ and complete person within herself. Besides, however much she didn't want to admit it, a part of her was curious about what would come to fill the space left by Arnold in her life—what new pursuits and interests and passions that she had never considered before would she come upon? What kind of Helga would she become without Arnold?

Arnold broke the silence that had ensued as Helga had become lost in her thoughts. "I still need you to take your hat off, Helga. For part two of your gift…"

Helga still hesitated. Arnold did his best to lighten the mood. "Just take it off and leave your hair down for once, _Cecile_. If it makes you feel better I promise I won't find it too attractive."

Helga blushed considerably (she had told him the story of last Valentine's Day during their time in San Lorenzo, surprising Arnold quite a bit) but finally removed the cap.

"Now close your eyes," Arnold smiled mischievously.

Helga did as she was told again. "I'm getting some serious déjà vous here but whatever floats your boat, Football Head."

For a few seconds Helga didn't feel anything.

Okay, open your eyes.

Helga did so but, to her surprise, nothing was before her. She raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly, she studied her beloved very closely—there was something different about him. What was it though? He had on the same coat, and the same pants, and his hair was the same style…but somehow it looked different or…or it was missing something!

"Arnold?! Your hat?!" Helga leapt up and began to search around the cement under their feet. "It must have blown off your head!"

"Helga…" Arnold stood up as well.

"We have to find it!"

"Helga…" He was being patient.

"Here, you check that side of the roof and I'll check this one! I just hope it didn't blow off! Oh, if it ends up at the dump again, I'm just gonna—"

"Helga!" He was tapping his foot at this point.

"What?!" She looked at him in panic, surprised at how calm he was being about the fact that his signature blue hat was now lost.

Arnold just laughed though and replied simply, "It's on top of your head, Helga."

Helga felt the top of her head and sure enough the blue cap was there. She took it down and held it in her hand. She looked to Arnold in confusion. "But how did it get there?" she asked, genuinely curious.

Arnold took a step toward her. "Because I just gave it to you, Helga. It's part of that promise I made. If you don't think I'll really come back just because I said I would, or even to give you your ribbon back…" Helga swallowed hard at hearing how perfectly he'd figured out the full extent of her true motivation in including her ribbon in his present. Arnold continued, "You at least have to know that I'll always come back for my hat." He winked.

Helga felt like her legs were going to give out. She couldn't believe his words. "You're ki—you're kidding me, right?"

Arnold grabbed her shoulders in his arms to steady her. "Merry Christmas, Helga." He gave her one more quick kiss on the mouth, which they both savored. Helga just smiled as he separated from her; she was finally feeling alive inside after so many empty days.

He grabbed one of her hands. "Now, come on—I've only got one night left here and my parents and my Grandpa are waiting in the car outside. You can come to my house for some hot chocolate and San Lorenzo Christmas stories, and then maybe I can go over to your house for some eggnog and Christmas carols. What do you say?"

Helga just nodded, her eyes half-lidded and a pleased smile on her face. "Sounds like plan, Football Head…"

Arnold turned from her and began to walk toward the roof exit, pulling out his flashlight. Helga, however, hesitated. Noticing that he wasn't hearing her footsteps behind him, Arnold turned with concern in his eyes to see what was the matter. "Helg—" Suddenly, he felt a large snowball pelt him in the right side of his face. He brushed it off and saw a smirking Helga standing ten feet from him, her arms folded over her chest

"Hey!" he yelled jokingly.

She put his hat on her head, and then put her snow hat over it to keep the wind from taking it away. "Oh, come on, Arnold--not everything can change." She rolled her eyes.

Arnold shook his head smiling and began to head for the doorway again, knowing better than to try and best Helga in a snowball fight. He assumed she would follow him this time.

"But a lot _is_ different now, isn't it?" came Helga's voice from her still stationary body, a note of sadness and longing in it again.

Arnold turned once more to see her looking at him with genuine concern and confusion in her eyes, a fading smile on her face. She continued. "And a lot's going to _keep_ being different for a while, isn't it?"

Arnold considered how he should answer. "Sometimes when things are different it can mean a lot of good stuff can happen…" He walked back over to her and grabbed one of her hands in his. "Like you and me, for instance."

Helga's smile only mildly returned at his touch. "But it can also mean a lot of _hard_ things have to happen before things can be good, can't it?" Again the painful memories of the last four months of secret letters, and no poems, and numbness, and tears flashed through Helga's mind and she shuddered at the loneliness that it all was.

Arnold could do nothing but speak what he felt was the truth. "Yeah, maybe…" He looked into her eyes, "But I think that the good that'll come will be worth it. And I think that we can do it as long as we know we have each other."

"You're so corny, Football Head," came Helga's listless reply, and she rolled her eyes. She sighed and without looking at him added seriously, "I'll try Arnold…I, I don't know if it's always going to be as perfect as you think it is…I think I might even forget sometimes what you're saying right now and just think of the bad things as being for forever…but I'll try Arnold." She looked him in the eyes. "_Really_. _I'll try. I promise_." She grasped his remaining free hand firmly with her own free hand and smiled. Arnold smiled back.

Helga suddenly broke her hands from Arnolds' and hugged him tightly. Arnold's look of surprise at the sudden gesture quickly melted into a smile at her warm touch on this cold winter's night.

The two remained like this for a few moments. Eventually, a cold gust of wind caused Helga to shiver and break apart from Arnold. As it passed, though, she looked to him with a smile on her face and a blush on her cheeks, and he smiled back at her with his familiar half-lidded gaze. He reached out a hand for one of hers and, with that, Arnold turned on his flashlight with his free hand and the two ten-year-olds went to open the door to exit the roof.

Arnold removed his hand from Helga's to grab the door handle and gave it a firm pull. "Uh oh…"

Helga's eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean, 'uh oh,' Arnold?"

Arnold pulled at the door again. "Um, I think it locked from the inside when I closed it behind me. It won't open."

"Let me see that!" A scowl came to Helga's face and she spit into her palms and grabbed the door handle with all of her might and pulled. However, all she succeeded in doing was ripping the handle off, effectively hurling herself backward onto the floor of the concrete roof.

"Oh that's just perfect—now it probably won't open from _either_ side!" yelled Helga to herself, frustrated at her inability to open the door.

Arnold raced over to her. "Helga, Helga—are you alright?" He knelt down beside her and put his arm underneath her head, elevating it up.

She rubbed one of her temples. "Yeah, I'm fine, Football Head." She pushed herself up on her own and dusted her coat off. "But how are we gonna get down from here? It's freezing!" She looked around. "What I wouldn't give for one of those grappling hooks from Bridget right now…"

Arnold looked at his flashlight. "Well, my mom said if I needed help to just shine this down to the car and they'd come get me."

Helga grinned. "You know, Arnold, if we were talking about anybody else's parents making their way through a dark, abandoned office building, breaking down a steel door, and coming to the rescue of two ten-year-olds I would probably sooner jump onto the grassy, snowy lawn below and hope for the best." Arnold grinned, knowing well his parents' adventure and survival skills. Helga continued. "But if it's _your_ parents, Arnold-o, I'm just disappointed this place doesn't have a moat or a lava pit or something to make it a challenge for them." She put an arm over his shoulder and the two shared a laugh.

Arnold and Helga walked over to the edge of the roof and could just make out the lights of the Packard parked in the street below. Arnold shone his flashlight beam down there and in two seconds Miles had beeped the horn three times to let his son know that help was on the way.

Arnold sat down with his back against a wall and Helga followed suite.

"So, I'm thinking…what? A half hour 'til we're finally warm and happy in the Packard?" guessed Helga.

Arnold shrugged. "Probably…Speaking of which…Helga, I think I should warn you before we get down there that while we've been up here my Grandpa's probably been filling my parents in on how we're 'boyfriend and girlfriend,' and 'in love,' and how we've been 'flirting for years.' Arnold blushed. "I don't know exactly what my Grandpa's cooking up, but I just wanted you to be prepared in case they say or do anything."

"Ah, so Gerald did tell someone after all," replied Helga with a sarcastic smile. "Perfect, I've been looking for a reason to kick his butt for seven years."

Arnold smiled and rolled his eyes. "Actually, my Grandpa figured it out all on his own. He even suggested that you might like me months before you told me that you did…"

Helga blinked. "Really? What…what did you say to him?" She couldn't help but ask the question.

Arnold paused, and then an uncontrollable grin came to his face. "I told him he was crazy."

The two of them stared at each other for a second and then burst into laughter.

After they had both calmed down, Helga swallowed hard and asked innocently, "So…any cute Green Eyes girls you've been going all gaga over since I've been gone?" A smirk threatened to appear on her face.

"Helga!" Arnold's eyes widened, and automatically he gave her a playful punch in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Helga rubbed the spot. "Hey, that actually hurt a little! And _you_ can't hit nearly as hard as _I _can." Arnold rolled his eyes at this comment. Helga continued, "Is that really what I did to you before? Sheesh, maybe I _should_ lighten up on you a bit?"

Their laughter filled the cold rooftop with warmth. Meanwhile, the snow clouds began to finally clear up leaving patches of dark, star-dotted sky amongst the static sections of grey mists above. And for tonight, at least, no matter what would happen when Arnold got on that plane tomorrow, this particular Pataki felt like she could be strong for years if she had to.

* * *

**A/N:**

That's all for now folks! I hope you liked it and please review if you have the chance :) And to everyone celebrating anything right now Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, have a great Winter Solstice, and of course an Awesome Kwanza, plus anything else I didn't think of!!! I'm late for a Christmas Eve party myself so I've got to go now—Bye!!!


	2. Mistletoe

**A/N:**

Okay, so here's a sequel to the Christmas story I posted last year that I've been tinkering with ever since last January. Credit to **Suprsingr** who's desire to see just what happened concerning that mistletoe prank Grandpa was going to pull on the kids got me started writing it. If you haven't read the first part of this, please do so otherwise this isn't going to make a whole lot of sense. Also, I'd recommend having some familiarity with "The Patakis" and CB's intended direction for it. I'll put a brief synopsis below this A/N just in case you're sitting there going 'The Patakis—what the heck is that?"

You'll also notice that there's an epilogue that goes with this. I was a little hesitant to put it up because…well, it's not that I feel that it doesn't do something good for the story as much as I feel that this second part does something better for the story than the epilogue. I don't know…it's a little complicated but I like the epilogue so I hope you'll take the time to check it out as well (it's definitely a bit more serious than the stuff I usually write, and probably the only attempt I'll ever make at writing anything about "The Patakis," so I hope it turned out well).

"The Patakis" synopsis:

Okay, so basically when HA! was ending, CB was thinking about producing another cartoon series entitled "The Patakis" which focused on Helga as a teenager living in Hillwood with Arnold living with his parents*. Basically, after TJM they had both admitted having feelings for each other and they tried dating but it didn't work out. In the Patakis, Helga writes letters to Arnold about stuff in her life but she never sends them. There's also some darker stuff about her family—Miriam's in AA and Bob's gotten a little harsher, for example. The show never happened though because Nick thought it was too dark and MTV thought it was too soft and plus they thought it would be too much like Daria. That's all I really know about it myself, but you can probably google other stuff.

Okay, so here you all go!

*Thanks to Hellerick Ferlibay for pointing out that it was never confirmed where Arnold and his parents were supposed to be living in The Patakis. With this story, though, I go on the assumption that he stays in San Lorenzo with them--the idea of it just always made sense to me.

* * *

**A Helga Pataki Christmas**

**Chapter 2: Mistletoe**

"You kids must be freezing?! Helga, how long have you been up there, exactly?" Though Stella's voice had a scolding tone to it Helga knew her anger wasn't serious, and couldn't help but enjoy the way Arnold's mom always seemed to mother her. She was happy that the close relationship she had had with the woman was continuing even though their summer adventure of bonding in San Lorenzo was months behind them.

Helga shrugged and averted her eyes. "Just for a little while…I'm sorry that Arnold and you and Arnold's Dad had to come and get us though."

After a good half hour of Arnold and Helga reminiscing and laughing on the roof of FTi, Arnold's parents had suddenly burst through the door looking prepared to defend their son and his friend from any dastardly villain that might be trying to cause them harm. Upon the kids explaining that the door had just locked behind them though, Stella and Miles had looked at each other with burnt cork under their eyes and brandishing pieces of pipe they had found on the building's floor, and burst into laughter for their overreactions.

Despite the kid's protests, the adults had insisted upon carrying them down the stairwell (Helga on Stella's shoulders and Arnold on Miles'). Now, they all stood in the moonlit lobby of the FTi building, just happy to be together.

Stella shook her head and knelt down by the girl. "I'm just glad we were able to find you and get you down from there. As long as you're safe now, that's all that matters…And it's 'Stella' and 'Miles' Helga, you know that—'Arnold's Mom' and 'Arnold's Dad' are such a mouthful." She smiled and winked, and Helga smiled back.

"Arnold, why didn't you let us know that you needed help sooner?" said Miles, putting down his son and dusting snow off the young boy as well as himself.

"Well…" began Arnold a little hesitantly, not wanting to get too much into the details of his and Helga's encounter. "We didn't realize the door had locked until just before I signaled with my flashlight."

Miles wiped away the burnt cork from under his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater. "What were you two doing up there anyway?" he asked almost automatically, not considering the embarrassing possibilities.

Arnold blushed. "We were…uh…talking. Just talking…"

At the obviously flustered stutter from his son, Miles looked down at the boy and noticed the red tinge on his face. He couldn't help but smile and glance in Helga's direction, though she was busy with Stella.

Hearing Arnold's pathetic attempt at lying though, Helga decided to add to his answer. "Yeah, uh, Arnold was just trying to convince me to come down before it got too late to come by the Boarding House and get some hot chocolate, and I was just being stubborn and usual. Honestly, I don't know why old Football Head here puts up with me as a friend." She smiled and gestured in his direction, crossing her arms over her chest.

Stella gave her an incredulous look, and glanced at her husband who returned her gaze. "Mmm hmm…" She couldn't help the small laugh that escaped from her lips, though she tried to cover it up with her hand.

After a second Stella turned back to Helga, removing her coat and kneeling down. "Well, the point is that you kids are safe now. Here sweetie, put this on before you get pneumonia or something." She began to put the extra coat on Helga. "Nearly two hours on the frigid roof—you need more to warm you up than just your jacket and a snow hat and a—" Stella stopped in mid sentence and turned to her son, grinning. "Arnold, is that your scarf on her?"

A grin spread on Miles' face, and he turned to his son waiting for the coming awkward explanation.

Helga and Arnold just looked to each other and blushed. "Uh…" they both began in unison.

"And Arnold," Miles scratched his head, "where's your hat?"

The two fifth graders seemed to be looking for answers from each other for a few seconds. Finally, Helga sighed and approached Arnold, whispering in his ear. The kids then adjourned a few feet away from the adults, having a whispered and very animated conversation. Helga said something then seemed to be waiting for an answer from Arnold, who looked a little distressed and then replied into her ear. Helga rolled her eyes and looked like she was trying to be patient and sympathetic with the boy as she whispered something back to him. Arnold seemed to be thinking for a moment, but then whispered one final thing back to Helga and smiled. His reply brought a surprised smile to her lips and the two seemed to have come to some kind of an agreement. Stella and Miles, meanwhile, had been merely looking on in amused confusion at the scene.

Finally the children approached again, Arnold holding Helga's hand. He looked at Stella and Miles. "Mom, Dad…um," he was trying to control his blushing, "Helga and I…I mean Helga is…um, you know how you can like someone and then sometimes you can 'like-like' someone—"

"Oh for Pete's sake, Arnold!" Helga scowled at him. "We're an item, we've got a thing, we're dating, we're boyfriend and girlfriend—Sheesh, Football Head, there's like a million ways to describe it so just say it already!"

"I love Helga!" was the first thing that he blurted out, much to his embarrassment and Helga's complete astonishment. Certainly, Arnold had acknowledged his feelings for Helga back in San Lorenzo but he had never actually said those words…Those wonderful perfect words that made her know once and for all that whatever might be in store for them in the years to come, she could endure it.

Arnold, eyes wide, cleared his throat and continued. "And, um…she loves _me_, so…we're not just friends…"

Arnold pulled a very lovesick looking Helga closer to him by her hand. She was only able to mutter a faint "Mmm hmm…" in agreement with him.

Stella and Miles looked down at the embarrassed but obviously sincere ten-year-olds standing before them and then looked to each other, smiling. "Dad was right…just like him and Mom…" Miles said to his wife.

Stella put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Just like you and me, in a way too…" she added, referring to how Arnold and Helga had bonded over their San Lorenzo adventures and the Green Eyed People just as her and Miles had.

"So…" Arnold began nervously, "I'm guessing that since Grandpa was talking to you both for awhile in the car that this probably wasn't a huge surprise but…I just wanted you to know…officially…"

Miles spoke first, a half grin on his face. "Well, you're right Arnold—we kind of had a 'vague' idea there was something going on from your Grandfather's stories and how you keep blushing around the girl…"

Stella continued, putting her arm around her husband and smiling with a half-lidded gaze. "But it's nice that you're finally ready to let us know that yourself."

Arnold smiled.

Suddenly, Miles and Stella walked over to Helga and stood behind her with a hand each on one of her shoulders, much to her surprise. Stella looked at her son. "So, you want to be the boyfriend of our sweet little Helga, huh?"

Arnold raised an eyebrow in confusion.

Miles grinned. "Yes, we have to make sure you'll do right by her. She's an awfully special girl as we all saw last summer."

Helga blushed at the attention they were giving her—treating her like their own daughter going out on a first date.

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Mom, Dad…"

Stella crossed her arms over her chest. "We just have to make sure that you're good enough for her."

Miles concurred. "Exactly! What are your intentions with her, anyway?"

Arnold blushed turned to Helga. "I warned you this was going to happen…" he said in a defeated voice, smiling.

Helga sighed, not entirely hating the razzing. "Yeah I know—but I figure one day the whole world's probably gonna know that I don't entirely hate you, so we might as well start slow to get used to it."

"Well then," Arnold approached her and took one of her hands in his again, "As long as my parents know I guess it wouldn't hurt to hold your hand while we walk to the car?"

Helga couldn't help the lovesick look that came to her face. It was always so wonderful hearing him say things like that. "Uh…su—sure, Arnold.

Arnold lightly kissed the back of the hand he was holding. Miles and Stella looked on with smiles and pulled themselves close to each other. They followed in the children's wake, heading toward the building exit.

"Arnold," began Miles hesitantly, "Your Grandpa won't like it but I should probably warn you that he put a piece of mistletoe over the back right side door to the car as a prank for when you two come back."

Stella nodded. "If you two want, I'll just get in on that side of the car that way you don't have to deal with it."

Arnold was about to agree and thank his mother when suddenly Helga spoke up with a smirk on her face. "That's all right, Arnold's mo—uh, Stella," she corrected herself, seeing the look in Stella's eyes. "We'll get in on the mistletoe side—just leave handling the prank to me…Although I'm usually better at getting Arnold _into_ situations where he has to kiss me, rather than _out_ of them…" she added to herself.

Stella raised an eyebrow. Arnold smiled. "Believe me mom, Helga's the best when it comes to things like this," he recalled some of the stories she had admitted to him in San Lorenzo about her past capers to keep him from knowing her secret. "Grandpa doesn't stand a chance…"

* * *

The group approached the Packard and Grandpa rolled down the shotgun window. "What took you all so long? Sheesh, I've listened to every Christmas song ever written on the radio at least THREE TIMES since we got here. Plus, I'm out of cocoa!" He shook his open thermos upside down, revealing that there wasn't a drop left in it to fall out.

Miles entered the driver's seat and closed the door. "The kids just got locked up on the roof and it took a little while to open the door. They're safe though now."

Stella opened the left back door and got in. "Yes, it was quite an adventure." She dusted some snow off of her sweater.

Phil smiled—he could just make out through the snow flecking the backseat passenger window his grandson with a blonde in tow approaching the mistletoe door. He rolled down his window to try and see them better, though it didn't help much since the snow was falling more thickly now. He laughed to himself. "Heh, heh, heh, here they come!" He elbowed Miles and turned around in his seat, grinning slyly.

After a moment of tension the door clicked open to reveal to ten-year-olds ready to enter.

Arnold put out his arm into the car. "After you," he said quite warmly to his companion.

She approached and Grandpa's eyes widened. "Wait?! What the?! Who in the—who the heck is that, Arnold?!?!"

The girl taking Arnold's hand to get into the car certainly did not look like Helga Pataki—she was wearing a long, adult style coat (Stella's actually, though Grandpa didn't notice), and had long, wavy blond hair that flowed over her shoulders and even covered one of her eyes. She seemed sweet and shy and ladylike—characteristics not often associated with Helga G. Pataki by those who knew her.

Arnold replied to his Grandfather though he refused to turn to look at him, seeming completely enchanted with the lovely creature before him. "This is Cecile, Grandpa. She's coming home with us." His smitten smile told the old man that he was hooked.

Grandpa seemed flabbergasted. "But, but what happened to Helga? I thought you came here to get her?!"

" 'Helga'? 'Helga' who?" said Arnold distractedly.

"She wasn't up there, Phil. But Arnold found this young lady he seems to know and apparently the two became quite close while they were waiting to be rescued," replied Stella quite casually.

"Yes, I think he's quite taken with her," added Miles, trying his hardest to keep his desire to laugh out loud under control.

"But, but, but, but!!!" Grandpa began to stutter, looking panicky.

Arnold made a show of suddenly noticing the mistletoe. "Oh look Cecile, mistletoe!" He looked to the girl lovingly, stroking her hair.

She giggled and flipped her hair coyly, all the while keeping her one visible eye on him. She fluttered it for a moment or two for effect.

"Boy, don't do it!!! Cheese and crackers, how many wrong girlfriends does it take?! Four or five mess-ups is enough, Arnold! You belong with Helga!"

As Helga-in-disguise approached Arnold for their kiss standing in the shelter of the car door, a thought occurred to her: _'Ruth and Lila and Summer and…Hey wait a minute!!!'_

For a second she broke character with just inches between her and Arnold's faces. "Four or five?!"

Arnold's eyes widened at the exclamation and to stop her before she gave away her true identity he quickly pushed his hand to her mouth and pressed his lips against the back of it, creating the appearance of a kiss.

"Mmm! Mmm…" came Helga's small protest.

Grandpa's jaw fell open. "Oh, what have I done?!"

After a couple of seconds, Arnold and 'Cecile' separated, took one look at each other, and burst into laughter along with Miles and Stella. Helga even fell into the snow around the car she was so doubled over with laughter.

Grandpa just looked from person to person completely confused. "What's so funny, you four? Arnold might have just ruined his chances with Helga forever because of another one of his mistaken and temporary boyhood crushes and it's all my fault for putting that mistletoe there!"

Helga managed to calm herself down and with Arnold help stood up again, brushing the snow from Stella's coat. She took off the jacket and gave it back to Arnold's mom, revealing her usual winter garments that had been hidden underneath it. She also pushed back her hair from her eyes so that her face could finally be recognized.

Arnold took her actions as the cue that the joke was over. "Grandpa…"

Phil, however, was turned forward in his seat, talking to himself hysterically. "Oh, now I'm gonna have to work on getting those two together all over again…"

Arnold grinned. "Grandpa…"

Phil ignored him. "And to top it all off the boy's going back to San Lorenzo tomorrow so I don't even have his proximity with the girl to help me!"

"Grandpa…" Arnold said firmly but patiently, still smiling.

Grandpa's eyes widened. "Pookie's gonna kill me for this one—there'll be raspberries in everything I eat from now until the end of time!"

"Hiya Phil, how's tricks?!"

"AHHHHH!!!"

The old man nearly jumped into his son's arms in the driver's seat. Helga had just popped her face into his window, smiling happily.

At this new development, Arnold and his parents burst into laughter again along with Helga.

Grandpa took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and looked from Helga to his grandson to the other adults. "What the—what's going on? Where's Cecile?"

In answer, Helga flipped her hair over her eyes. "Right here, Gramps." After a moment, she flipped it back to her normal position. She then pulled out her snow hat from her jacket pocket (with Arnold's cap still snuggled safely inside of it) and pulled it back on top of her head. She crossed her arms over her chest and gave Grandpa a smug grin.

He removed himself from Miles' lap, resuming his seat. "Wait a minute—Helga?!"

Helga just smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

Grandpa looked from Miles to Stella to Arnold and to Helga again. "So, are you four trying to me that the girl Arnold just kissed was Helga all along?"

Arnold, Stella, and Miles shrugged their shoulders in an affirmative response. Arnold spoke up. "Well, we didn't really kiss but that's definitely been Helga."

Grandpa continued. "And that the four of you planned all of this while you were in that building?"

The four were silent, a touch of doubt coming into their minds due to the serious tone of the old man's voice about whether this had all been such a good idea.

Suddenly, though, their doubts were alleviated as Grandpa burst into laughter. He lay back in his seat with his eyes closed, unable to stop.

Finally, his hilarity began to subside a bit and he opened his eyes. "Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!!! Oh that was some prank, Arnold, heh heh heh heh heh!!! Did you two tip the boy off?" he asked Miles and Stella, who only smiled sheepishly.

Arnold grinned. "Actually," he walked over to Helga who was still positioned outside of the shotgun seat, "it was Helga's plan."

Helga smiled smugly at him. "Hey, I was just protecting my title as Queen of Pranks." She turned to Grandpa. "It's nice to know though that you've been rooting for me so much with Arnold—it hasn't been an easy battle, has it?"

Grandpa continued laughing. "Oh, you can say that again, Helga. Heh heh heh!"

She leaned in close to him. "If you're looking for a really choice prank for the future, though, try pulling Gerald aside sometime soon when I'm around and thanking him for letting you know that I like Arnold. He, uh, kind of knows about us but is under a death threat from me if he ever tells anyone. Trust me, he wouldn't sleep for weeks!" Helga smiled devilishly.

"Helga?!" Arnold began to scold.

"Aw, quit being such a wet blanket, Arnold-o!" She rolled her eyes.

Grandpa laughed once more and winked at her. "Say that's not a bad idea—Arnold, you should start taking advice from this girl. You haven't pulled a decent prank since that radio show two Halloween's ago."

Arnold just sighed and pulled Helga away from the shotgun window back to the entrance to the backseat.

Stella shifted as far against her own door as she could to make room for the kids. "Okay, you two, time to get in for real—we don't want either of you to catch a cold."

Arnold and Helga approached the still ajar back door and accidentally tried to enter the car at the same time, effectively bumping their heads underneath the mistletoe.

"Ow!"

"Ow!"

They rubbed their heads and both automatically glanced up at the small green sprig still above them.

Grandpa turned around to the two preteens and smiled, seeing where they were. "Well, it looks like my prank wasn't a complete failure, was it?"

Arnold blushed and averted his eyes from Helga. A red tinge came to Helga's face as well. Suddenly, though, she looked from Arnold to the mistletoe and sighed. "Aw, what the heck…It's Christmas."

She grabbed the sides of his wide head and kissed him firmly and quickly in front of his parents as well as his grandfather, much to his surprise.

She separated from him and looked to the three adults in the car. "There, now all the tension's over and we've all finally seen me kiss Arnold, so we can move on to the eggnog and hot chocolate because I have been freezing my butt off for the last two hours!"

With a half lidded smile she grabbed Arnold's hand and pulled him into the car with her.

"Alright, let's get back home!" called Miles and he turned the Packard around and headed back down Washington street to return to the Boarding House.

As the warm car rolled down the street, Helga turned to Arnold. "So what was that about 'four or five girlfriends' before me? Last time I counted there were only Ruth, Lila, and Summer…?" Her face told him that she expected an answer.

Arnold considered, seriously trying to remember whom else he might have mentioned to his Grandpa. "Well, I did go out on a date once last year with that sixth grader, Maria…and I might have had a crush on that substitute we had in fourth grade, Ms. Felter…" He looked at her sheepishly.

Helga sighed in relief at the fact that there wasn't a secret fourth major crush that Arnold had had. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Whew—just an impossible teacher crush and a dance with a girl way out of your league. Sheesh, don't scare me like that, Arnoldo!"

He smiled sarcastically at the 'insult', and subtly took her hand in his as they rested on the seat.

They drove along in silence for a little while, listening to the Christmas music on the radio as the adults occasionally talked and laughed with each other.

"Hey, Helga?" Arnold suddenly spoke up.

Helga turned to him. "What's up, Football Head?"

Arnold turned to her, smiling, a half-lidded gaze on his face. "Do you think telling my parents that I love you was a good way of letting them know about us?"

Helga felt a slight blush come to her cheeks as she recalled the words he had said that she had always wanted to hear. She stuttered a bit in her reply. "I—I think it was fine…and wonderful…and," she was falling deeper and deeper under his spell and tried to pull herself back again, aware that there were still three other people in the car who were probably looking at them right now, "I mean, whatever floats your boat, Arnold."

He gave a small sigh and squeezed her hand on the seat. "Good." He faced forward again.

A moment of silence passed, but he didn't say anything more. Finally Helga raised an eyebrow and turned to him. "Is there a reason you asked?"

He shrugged his shoulders, facing forward and smiling to himself. "I just wanted to make sure it was okay with you since I figured I'd say the same thing when we tell _your_ family tonight."

Helga didn't say anything for a few seconds, not processing what he had just said. Suddenly, her eyes widened as the car pulled to a stop in front of the Boarding House. "WHAT?!"

Arnold laughed to himself as Miles, Stella, and Phil all turned to face them with raised eyebrows on each of their faces at Helga's sudden exclamation.

Arnold smiled. "Come on Helga—let's go inside and get some hot chocolate and then we can talk about it."

He opened the door and stepped out. She followed him. "Arnold, I'm serious—you're kidding right?!"

Arnold didn't respond but just continued smiling as he walked up the stoop.

Helga ran up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Arnold," she began in a panicked voice, "Seriously—they're not cool like your family." Arnold just unlocked the boarding house door, still smiling to himself. Helga continued, gesticulating, "I-I mean Miriam would probably start giggling every time she saw us and offer to make us a smoothie with two straws or something lame like that, and Bob would completely lose it and never let me out of the house again unless you suddenly became a football and beeper junkie, and Olga…" all of the color drained from Helga's face.

Arnold just held open the door for his Grandpa and parents, and then pulled a still distracted Helga in beside him. A look of terror was in her eyes. "Oh, Arnold, Olga—she would, she would…oh she would take pictures and dress us up and call us 'the cutest things she'd ever seen' and never leave us alone..."

Arnold just shook his head and removed his coat, hanging it up.

"Arnold, TALK TO ME!!!" She grabbed him by the shoulders, their faces near each other. "You CANNOT tell the Patakis something like this!"

Arnold just smiled and kissed her nose. "For the Queen of Pranks you're kind of easy to fool, Helga."

At these words Helga breathed a large sigh of relief and let Arnold go. "Don't _do_ that to me Football Head! Sheesh!"

Arnold laughed. "Let's just say it makes us even for a few things—six or seven years of things actually." He raised an eyebrow at her.

Helga blushed as she recalled in an instant all those years of tricks and insults and personal torture, and then smiled sheepishly and her beloved. "Deal, Football Head."

The two of them walked to the kitchen to get some snacks.

"You know Helga," Arnold added quietly to her though, "If the 'whole world' is going to find out about us one day, I think that might include your parents and your sister too…"

Helga sighed to herself. "I-I know…It's just, I don't think now's the right time. You know, while I'm still living in the same zip code as them."

Arnold nodded, respecting her feelings. He knew that when it came to her family she knew best.

As they entered the kitchen and Arnold went to prepare them a snack, Helga felt inside that she was making the right decision…for now, at least. If she wanted the next few years of her life to allow her to grow and develop as a person outside of Arnold then she needed to live in a place where as few people as possible knew about their history so that it would be easier to make her life about something more than that…and about something more than him. Besides, there really was a big difference between how her family would react and how Arnold's had reacted…and she wasn't ready to bring the rest of the Patakis into this just yet.

* * *

**A/N:**

Okay, I hope you all enjoyed that :) I think it really brought the initial story full circle. Happy Holidays, everyone, and if you're moving on to the epilogue, I really hope you enjoy it!

Happy Reading!!!

Azure129 aka Jenna


	3. Merry Labor Day, Merry Christmas

**A/N:**

Well, here's the epilogue. I've gotta say again, I have a little more confidence in the second chapter than I have in this, but…I think it does some interesting stuff and addresses some necessary things. It just might be a little drawn out but I hope not and I hope you all enjoy it. I think my favorite part is how it begins.

Also, I would just like to mention that this was literally supposed to be a page or two long…it ended up at around 34 (which explains my comment about my fear of it being too long). _Sigh_ I really need to learn to control myself when it comes to writing about this show.

One more thing I want to mention. A lot of the stuff here comes from Craig Bartlett's intended direction for the Pataki's, but the stuff about Helga spending a lot of her time at the Boarding House is an idea that was first introduced to me after reading a series of fics based on "The Patakis" written several years ago by a group of ff dot net writers called Old Betsy. It just seemed like something that would really fit her character, so credit to Old Betsy for coming up with that. I would strongly recommend checking their stories out to anyone who is interested in "The Patakis," because they are in my opinion a set of the most well written stories on the subject.

Also, I would like to apologize in advance for the French translations in case they're horrible. Basically, I was working with an online translator and my own knowledge of Romance Languages based on 9 years of Spanish classes. If you have corrections for them, please let me know and I'll put them into the story.

Okay, so, without further ado, here is the epilogue to A Helga Pataki Christmas.

* * *

Epilogue:

Merry Labor Day, Merry Christmas

_Dear Arnold:_

_Today was pretty okay. I just got back from a two-week vacation to Philadelphia with Big Bob and the whole family. Pretty lame stuff but I guess it was okay to get away from this hot city for a little while. Now I'm back though and of course I've got nothing to do._

_Speaking of the family, did I tell you that Miriam got her ribbon the other month for two years sober? She's also been getting out of the house more now that I'm older and she even started her own business: Smoothies (non-alcoholic, of course). She really likes it a lot, and I've actually been working there with her and we've started getting pretty close. I'm really happy for her—it was a bumpy road there for a little while but it's finally starting to really get okay. Bob can still be a bit of a jerk, but he cut down his hours at the Beeper Emporium a bit since that second heart attack last year and he's learning to relax a bit and actually trying to reconnect a little with Miriam and me…and sometimes it's even not in a totally self-centered 'Hey-girl-fetch-me-a-cold-one-while-I-watch-the-wheel' way. I think he's also improved quite a bit from getting to spend time with Olga's kids, Tuck and Tina. She brought them to stay with us for the summer and even though it's been a handful somehow it brought out a really loving side of Bob that I didn't even know was there. Weird, huh? As for Olga, I know I've said this much to my amazement in a lot of my letters lately but since I never send them I might as well say it again—it's like having those two kids was the best thing for her in the world. She was a nice person before but so self-centered and now she takes a lot of that energy she used for always trying to be the best and win everyone's approval and puts it into giving Tuck and Tina happy lives. And sometimes her hair's not perfect, or there's a stain on her blouse, or she hits a wrong note on the piano, but it doesn't make her run into her room in despair for a week like that time I changed her report card grades in elementary school. She just shrugs it off, hugs one of the children, and plows right on. Her husband Tucker's a pretty decent guy too, by the way. You'd like him—he's funny and sweet and honest: reminds me a lot of you, Football Head. I'm gonna regret writing this but once again there's little chance this will get sent so…I think you'd make a great Dad someday too, Arnold._

_But, anyway, enough about my boring family. Hey, we finally got our class schedules for senior year in the mail—I've got two classes with Phoebe and the same two with Gerald (I swear those two are like an old married couple or something). I managed to pass the placement test to get into advanced French too, so it's probably going to be a pretty busy year but it'll be worth it if I can get a head start on the language in college. I still haven't decided whether I just want to minor in French or make it a second major (you know my first love will always be…writing—what did you think I was going to say 'you' or something? Ego, much?). Oh well…at least I still have a few more months to figure things out before I apply to schools. I'm looking at some places on the coast and even in Canada (French IS the second language there). I tried researching some stuff down south but there weren't any programs that looked like they would help me too much—mostly Spanish and Portuguese, you know._

_Did I tell you one of my short stories won first place in the school writing contest? I mean, I just got a printed out certificate and a pat on the back from my English teacher so it's a little lame, but at least it's something else I can put on my resume. I'm thinking of submitting the story into a citywide contest that's coming up though, and there's some kind of trophy or cash prize or whatever that goes along with that. I'll let you know if it works out (I think they announce the winners around Christmas). You know, I actually wrote it about that one Christmas…the one during the first time you came back home. You remember the building and the snow and the gifts and the kiss…_

_Anyway…anyway…hey, did I tell you that I talked to the yearbook editor (Rhonda, of course) and she thought it would be a great idea to put some of those photographs I've been taking for you into the book. She actually thinks I should look into becoming a professional photographer or something. I don't know—I've really started to like doing it a lot over the years but it's more of a hobby than a career. Oh, and I've always kept copies of the ones I've sent you of this place ever since high school started, so don't worry about sending any back to me. Just keep them all in that book I gave you, like I figure you must do. And she also wanted to put some scans of the drawings you're always sending me of San Lorenzo on a page…you know, kind of in memory of you. Everyone still misses you Arnold—I swear, I think you could come back tomorrow and it would be like you never left. No awkward few weeks of getting used to you being here, no private jokes that you're never going to get about stuff that's happened here over the last seven years (well, not many of them). Somehow, you're a part of everyone's lives even now—I still hear people remembering something you did once in elementary school, or someone who's in a jam saying to themselves 'Hmm…what would Arnold say to do?' I think Gerald would be the happiest though. Big baby has no one to gossip with these days except my best friend, and he's always taking up her time with all their giggling and goo-goo eyes. Totally gross if you ask me but…they're really happy so it makes me happy._

_You know, Arnold, if I manage to send this letter to you it'll be the first one. I know I say this in all of them so I might be jinxing it, but if I do actually let you read this one I think you should know that there are others: a lot of others, actually. I just…just never got the courage to send them because…I don't know, I just figured that you would be happier if you didn't have me and my problems and the random daily events of my life interrupting things in San Lorenzo. I mean, you deserve the chance to be with your parents and have a happy life without having to worry about anyone here or feeling guilty. You deserve that so much, Arnold._

_I know I've said this a million times since that spring break you came up here in 8th grade (well…I only said it those three or four times we talked on the phone after that, but I've written it but never sent it a million times) but I'm sorry again about everything…I think all those stupid fights were just because I was frustrated and you were frustrated and I wasn't making it any easier with all that stuff about how if I was going to have a boyfriend I at least wanted one who could take me to the winter dance and sneak out to parties at night and who could walk me home from school and kiss me goodnight every night. I mean, I know that every girl deserves that stuff but it was hard to not forget sometimes…a lot of the time, actually…that you had a reason for not being able to give it to me, and that you really wanted to more than anything in the world. But I always wanted you to know Arnold that even though I felt bad about that stuff sometimes I always knew that I was lucky enough to have something that no other girl I've ever know in my life has ever had (well, except maybe Phoebe)—the chance to know her true love, and to have him be a part of her life, and to be a part of his. I would never trade what I've had with you for all the dates and parties and stupid crushes in the world. I know it's even harder for us because we started loving each other when we were so young, but we've made it through a lot and I'd like to try being together again one day if you're still up for it. I never did stop loving you through it all—guess I really AM a basket case, right, Football Head?_

_I think it was really good for us to stop talking directly for a while after all of that stuff in junior high. I missed you but I think it gave us both time to figure some things out about ourselves and each other. I don't know why I sent you that random picture of the old elementary school that one day. Like I said, I've never had the courage to send you any of the letters…but suddenly there I was just popping it into the mailbox with your address on it. And then you sent me that sketch you did of the waterfall where I told you about all that crazy stuff I used to do when we were kids because I liked you—the sneaking around and the time I tricked you into my date for Valentines Day, and the time you found my book of poetry, and the time I connived my way into getting the lead in the school play so that I could kiss you…Sometimes I just randomly burst into laughter whenever I think of some of that stuff—it all seems like a dream, in a way…But anyway, the point I was trying to make is that I've liked this way of having something between us: no words, just those little snapshots of our lives. In a way, I feel closer to you now than I did even when you lived those few blocks away. Weird, huh? But then again, you're talking to the only seventeen-year-old girl (as far as I know) who wears a small blue hat underneath her baseball cap everyday. I've never been very normal, have I?_

_I think it must be the hottest day of the year, Arnold. I'd give anything to dive into one of those cool fresh springs in San Lorenzo. That last day we spent there that summer we found your parents was so much fun—the whole gang just hung out and swum and played games and had a good time. All of the drama was over and we could finally just be kids again. If you were here with me we could probably try taking a dip in the city lake, but it wouldn't be nearly as beautiful as San Lorenzo._

_Well, I guess that's all for know, Football Head. I'm actually feeling pretty good after writing all of this to you—heck, maybe I'll actually grow a spine and send this one. It's going to be my last year in this city: maybe it's time for taking a few new chances. Of course, I'll still send you a picture, like always. I snuck up on Phoebe Gerald the other day when they were flirting like they always are and took a quick shot. It's actually pretty funny—they were both totally surprised and he's got one eye closed and his hands half way up in the air, and she accidentally tossed her ice cream up in the air and it landed on her head. They were a little mad but I told them it was for you and then we all just had a good laugh about it. Anyway, I think you'll like the picture for your book. Maybe…maybe I'll take one of me in my prom dress in the spring and send it to you too. I don't really have plans to go with anyone yet but Phoebe said I could tag along with her and Gerald. I'll probably just show up with them though and then leave them alone—they get enough interruptions from me on a regular basis anyway, believe me._

_I hope you're having a good day and that you're happy whatever you're doing and wherever you are when you read this, Football Head. I miss you, as always._

_Love,_

_H_

"Kokoschka, I'm going to sweep off this stoop and when I come back there better be only one of those Yahoo sodas missing from the cooler and not all of them or I'm going to kick you out of this Boarding House once and for all!"

Helga glanced up at the person who had just said this words to someone still inside the Boarding House. She was currently stretched out on the top step of Arnold's stoop, her back against the stone railing. She pulled her legs in close to her so that elderly man holding the broom wouldn't trip over them.

Grandpa turned back to the stoop and gripped the broom, ready to remove some of the summer dust that had collected on the stoop over the last few days as he said these words. "There's a lot of other people her now besides y—" Suddenly, he blinked as he noticed the familiar figure below him. "Oh! Why, hello, Helga! Sheesh, we haven't seen you around here in a few weeks—how have you been?"

Helga smiled and sat up so that her back was no longer against the stone railing. "I'm okay, Phil. Just got back from that vacation with Bob and the rest of the family. How're things here?"

Phil sighed and rested the broom against the wall of the Boarding House. He smiled at her. "Oh, not bad…nothing special to report. Just that lazy bum Kokoschka free loading again as usual." He scowled at the door and Helga couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

She brushed some of her hair behind her ear and stood up, holding the notebook in which she had been writing her letter to Arnold. It being a lazy hot summer day with only a week until school started, she had just pulled on a pink t-shirt and a thin denim skirt before leaving the house. A pair of thong sandals was on her feet. She held out her hand toward the broom. "Hey, let me take care of that for you. If I'm gonna loiter on your front steps all the time, the least I could do is help out a little, right?"

Phil smiled at the girl. "Now Helga, you already collect the rent, do most of the cooking, do all of the laundry and even help me with some of the repairs—I can sweep the walk just fi—" As Phil had reached for the broom handle both him and Helga heard a distinct cracking sound. "Ooo, my back!" He rubbed his backside just a little and tried to stretch, though that just resulted in even more bone cracking sounds.

Helga walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulders, leading him over to the edge of the railing so that he could rest against it. "Easy there, Phil. You're 89—not 18 and it's gotta be almost 100 degrees today. Come on, let's go inside and relax on the couch in front of the AC with two of those cold Yahoo sodas you were talking about before Mr. Kokoschka chugs them all. What do you say?"

Phil took a few breaths and smiled at her. "No, now don't you worry about me, Ms. Pataki. I just need to rest in the shade of the door for a minute and then I'll be fine. Why don't you tell me what you were working on out here as long as we have a few minutes: another story for one of those contests? Or maybe some poetry…" He gave her a sly look.

Helga smiled and sat on the rail next to him. "I was just writing down some thoughts. You know, about this year and things at school and getting ready for college, and memories…things like that. I can't believe we're all going to be done with high school in a few months." She glanced down and smiled, like she was thinking of something. "It feels like one day we were all running around Gerald field and playing stupid pranks on each other and sneaking into Dino Land, and the next day…"

Phil laughed and smiled at her. "Yeah, you kids sure did grow up fast. Seems like only yesterday Abner was running around the kitchen covered in mud from the backyard and Arnold was chasing afte—" Phil stopped and cleared his throat. He noticed that Helga was turned away from him slightly, and with the light of the sun hitting her face he thought sadly that he could see the glint of a tear in one of her eyes. "You know," he added slowly, "I think there's someone who would like to hear some of that stuff you're writing down one day…"

Helga didn't respond, but he thought he could see a slight smile come to her face.

Suddenly, he stood up and stretched once more smiling. "Whew! Well, I feel much better now. Eh, this stoop can wait until later." He waved off the dusty stone steps. "Come on, I'll take you up on that offer for a little relaxation and a drink. Oh, and I think Pookie made some nice raspberry tarts we can snack on. How about it?"

Helga took a breath and smiled at him. "Yeah, I'd like that." The two of them began to enter the Boarding House. "But I'm sweeping that stoop myself when we're done!"

* * *

"Gertie, we have a visitor!" Phil called out as he and Helga entered the house and she shut the door behind them.

"Oh, who is it this time—the General or the Colonel or…Eleanor!" Gertie suddenly exclaimed as she came around the hallway corner and saw Helga standing there, helping Phil walk in.

Phil cleared his throat. "That's right—HELGA'S here!" Phil announced rather loudly.

There was a crash that sounded like someone had dropped a glass or something in the backyard. Helga raised an eyebrow in concern at the sound. Phil just laughed. "Oh, nothing to worry about, I'm sure. Probably just Kokoschka trying to take too many bottles at once." Helga smiled at him again.

"Oh what a delight to see you, dear." Gertie got on the other side of Phil, helping Helga lead him into the den. "How was your Holiday in the Philippines?"

Helga couldn't help but laugh slightly to herself at Gertie's question. 'Philadelphia, Philippines…close enough.' "Just fine, Gertie. How are things here—have you been holding down the fort okay?"

Now in the den, Phil and Helga in front of the cool AC. "Oh, things have been just fine. All troops present and accounted for. " She smiled at Phil and he smiled back at her, then she turned back to Helga. "Can I take your hat, dear?" Gertie asked, referring to the pink baseball cap always on Helga's head.

Gertie always asked her this question, ever since Helga had first shown up at the boarding house with the new hat on her head almost seven years ago. She put her hand to the incredibly frayed brim and smiled at Gertie. "No thank you, Guana. I think I'll leave it on for now."

"Very good, Eleanor." Gertie sat down in the easy chair.

Helga blinked in surprise as she suddenly noticed a very strange sight in the den. "Hey, what's with all the suitcases. You guys planning a trip?"

Phil smiled. "Oh, we were just thinking of spending some time with the rest of the family soon, you know?"

Helga smiled and nodded. "That's a good idea…I think they'd like that." She was silent for a second, but then cleared her throat and tried to resume her former happy tone. "So, can I ask about your beautiful dress, Gertie?" Helga was referring to the ornate, satin red and green dress that the old woman was currently sporting.

Gertie looked down at the dress and smiled at her. "Oh it's for the holiday! Actually, I was just getting ready to finish up with the tree and lights for labor day. Would you care to help me, Eleanor, dear?"

Phil rolled his eyes. "Pookie, how many times do I have to explain this to you—the tree and lights are for Christmas which was in December. The only thing we do for labor day is stop wearing white."

Gertie just laughed. "Oh, Phil, you're just not into the holiday spirit." She stood up and walked across the room, bringing their attention to a potted palm tree with a string of lights wrapped around it. "Well, I thought you might be a bit of a stick in the mud so I took the liberty of enlisting some fresh soldiers and putting together this." Phil dragged a hand down his face and sighed as Gertie continued cheerily. "I wanted a more traditional evergreen tree of course but those seem to be scarce in these parts right now (probably this hot climate) so I settled for an import. What do you think, Eleanor?"

Helga smiled. "I think it's beautiful." She stood up and walked over to the old woman, admiring the tree. "Besides, it's nice to have a bit of holiday fun this time of year…Christmas and Thanksgiving and everything all get bunched up into two or three months. I think we could all use a little cheer in the summer."

Gertie smiled and turned to the tree as well. "Yes, there's nothing like the holidays to remind you what's really important. Happy Labor Day, Helga!"

"Happy Labor Day, Gertie."

"You two are some pieces of work, you know that?" Phil announced jokingly, slowly pushing himself up off the couch. He stretched and a smile came to his face. "Say Helga?"

"Yeah, Phil?" Helga turned to him.

"Now, you know I hate to ask you…" he smiled at her.

She gave him a half lidded gaze and crossed her arms over her chest. "Phil!"

"Well…now are you sure you don't have somewhere else to be; somewhere else to go? You're a beautiful, smart and sophisticated young lady—you've probably got a million and one things that you could be doing that are better than hanging around this old place with us old fossils…"

"Phil, now you know if you don't keep me busy around here that I'm just going to get bored and turn into some kind of delinquent. It's a slippery slope—first I'm loitering on stoops, the next thing you know I'm committing bank robberies and running an underage speakeasy out of the basement of this place."

Phil laughed. "Well, if you're sure…You see, we were havin' a little end of the summer shindig outback—you know just a small barbeque with the boarders…kind of a family thing. Anyway," he stretched his back again and the cracking sound occurred, "I'm feeling a little too stiff to head all the way down those back steps to get myself a plate of food. Not to mention, like you said, it's hot as blazes out there…would you mind getting a burger for me and maybe some water?"

Helga smiled. "You got it!" She winked at him and then turned to Gertie. "Anything for you Gertie?"

Gertie went to sit by Phil on the couch. "Oh that's okay, Eleanor—I've already got a good man who brought a plate for me into the kitchen. Thank you, though."

Helga turned and headed in the direction of the back door. She hesitated for a second though as something on the desk in the corner caught her eye and then she turned back to the old couple. "Um…Phil?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, dear?"

Helga bit her bottom lip and hesitated for a moment, then looked back up at him. "Could I borrow one of these and a stamp?" she gestured toward the box of white envelopes on the desk.

Phil smiled slyly. "Certainly…help yourself."

Helga took a deep breath, quickly walked over to the couch where she had left her notebook, ripped out a few pages, and walked back over to the desk. She folded the pages and shoved them inside, sealed the envelope and put a stamp on it. She then used one of the pens randomly scattered across the table to write something down upon the front. She walked back to Phil, the letter in hand. "Harvey didn't come by here yet today, did he?"

Phil smiled and reached forward for the letter. Helga hesitated a second, then took a breath and handed it to him. He observed the address upon it with interest. "Don't worry Helga, I'll see that he gets it."

Helga smiled at the old man. She had a feeling he meant a different 'he' than Harvey. "Thanks, Phil."

"Helga, how many times have I asked you to start calling me Grandpa?"

Helga laughed. "Thanks…Grandpa." And with that she resumed her journey to the backyard again.

* * *

"Hey everyone, what's up?" Helga asked as she entered the backyard. She raised an eyebrow though as her eyes didn't meet the sight of a single boarder. There were a few picnic tables set up, and some used plates and empty bottles upon them (and the remnants of a broken bottle on one of them with a stain on the wood from the soda that had fallen out—'Must be what that sound was' she thought to herself), and there was even the grill still going with a thin wisp of smoke coming out of the top…but no people.

Helga looked around with a scrutinizing gaze as she walked through the yard, but it was like whoever had been there had disappeared. _'Weird…maybe they all went out front or something...Oh well…'_ Helga recalled her purpose being there and suddenly her eyes set on a platter of cooked burgers. She grabbed a clean plate and one of the burgers, and then rummaged in the cooler below it for a bottle of water. She walked back up the back steps and reentered the boarding house.

"Here you go, Phil—special deliver—" Helga stopped short in her sentence as she entered the living room and saw that Phil and Gertie were nowhere to be found. Her scrutinizing gaze returning, Helga slowly walked into the den, looking around. "Okay, this is getting a little freaky…" _'Still, maybe Harvey came around and they're just bringing him the letter,_' Helga thought to herself, a slight smile coming to her mouth. Gertie was right about remembering what was important…she couldn't keep hiding what she had to say to Arnold just because she was scared. Saying what she felt was a lot more important than stubbornly clinging to her childish pride. Besides, it was getting to be time for a change—she could feel it: time for something different to start. And as someone special had once said to her, "Sometimes when things are different it can mean a lot of good stuff can happen…Like you and me, for instance." For the first time in a while, Helga recalled something from that first Christmas after Arnold had left and she laughed to herself instead of trying not to cry.

Helga sat down on the couch and placed the plate with the burger on her lap (in order to keep it as protected from the AC as possible so that it wouldn't get cold), and put the water on the coffee table, deciding to just wait for them all to come back. "They sure are taking a while though. Maybe Ernie and Mr. Huynh got into another argument and now they're all out front trying to sort things out, or maybe the Jollie Ollie man's gone nuts again and is giving away free ice cream…" Helga recalled that day in fourth grade well and laughed to herself.

She sighed and looked around at the old room she had come to know so well over the years again. With Arnold gone, she'd somehow always ended up finding herself at this place when she was missing him, and pretty soon she'd been almost adopted as one of the family. She hadn't wanted to be a burden, of course, so as she'd gotten older she had always offered to help with random things around the place as necessary, until she was showing up pretty regularly to assist Gertie and Phil as they got on in years. Even though Helga was happy to help them with anything, she couldn't help but wish for their sakes that Miles and Stella were here sometimes—they really needed someone living here who could keep things ship shape, and the borders were starting to get on in years and in their lives. Mr. Huynh was in his sixties now and he tended to have some problems with one of his knees—an old injury from the war that flared up more and more as the years passed. Ernie was only in his fifties but he'd gotten married to some model he'd started dating about eight years ago, so most of their energy went into keeping their own apartment from getting too run down and trying to work as much as possible so they could save up enough money to retire soon and maybe get a condo somewhere warmer to spend the frigid winters. The Kokoschka's, meanwhile, had had a baby about five years ago and they had their hands full just trying to take care of little Joseph.

Helga leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes, feeling the AC blow coolly against her face. She opened an eye and glanced around again, making sure no one was truly around. Hesitantly, she reached up and lifted the pink cap from her head, and then removed the small blue one under it and put them both beside her on the couch. Usually, Helga always kept these hats on, but, well…it was particularly hot today and the air conditioning felt so good suddenly blowing against her hair.

She grinned to herself as she suddenly felt very nostalgic for her ribbon. It would have been nice to tie her hair back with it, so that her shoulders and neck could have been cooled too.

The drowsiness of the day, Helga realized with amusement, was affecting her to the point where she could almost feel it happening: the gentle pulling of her long thick hair away from her shoulders, securing it away from her skin and allowing the air to flow around her. Maybe not into pigtails…she was a bit old for that now. But to just pull it back in someway… to feel it secured again after all these yea—

Helga's eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright, knocking the plate on her lap to the floor with a loud crash. She was breathing heavily and she could feel her heart racing. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached her hand back behind her head…'_This is a dream…I fell asleep in the living room and I'm dreaming…or the heat's making me imagine things…Yeah, that's it—that's…'_ The thought trailed off as her hand felt her hair reshaped loosely by something tying and…and then hit a cool, silky slip of fabric tied in a very loose knot.

Helga instantly latched onto the item and pulled it out of her hair, bringing it in front of her eyes. It was a pink ribbon…it was her pink ribbon…and it was beautiful…

"You know," the voice behind her made her freeze, "I was lead to believe that if I gave back a certain ribbon one day, I could possibly get back a certain hat. I'm not sure what the statute of limitations on a verbal agreement is in this country…but at the very least I think I should get a proper hello."

Helga whipped around to see the source of the voice. Standing there, just behind the couch, not more than two feet from her, was Arnold.

"Hey, Helga…" He smiled at her.

"Arnold!" she suddenly found herself leaning across the couch and grabbing onto him in a vice grip hug. He returned the gesture. "Hey, take it easy," he said jokingly. "It's not like I'm going to disappear or anything."

Helga loosened her grip on the hug slightly and smiled up at him, though there were some tears in her eyes. "Oh shut up you big jerk."

He laughed and walked around the end of the couch, sitting down next to her. "It's been awhile, Helga."

Helga took a deep breath and tried to get her emotions under control. She smiled at him. "Yeah…a while." She glanced away from him and the first thing her eyes set on was the decorated palm tree. "So you're the one who helped 'import' that thing for Gertie." She jerked her thumb in its direction. "Merry Labor Day, by the way."

Arnold laughed. "Merry Labor day to you, too, Helga. Yeah, she was insisting on some kind of tree that could take the heat so we brought it back with us."

Helga's eyes lit up. "We? So Miles and Stella are here too?"

Arnold glanced away from her. "Yeah…we're all here…"

Helga smiled and glanced away. There was an awkward silence and she wasn't even sure where to begin with the questions she had for him.

"So…not really into the ribbon anymore?" he asked, with an eyebrow raised.

Helga blinked, then looked down at the small pink item in her hand. "Oh, um…no! I just…I just couldn't believe that it was actually in my hair and I just had to see it…Like you said, it's been a while." Helga reached her hands up with the ribbon and went to attack her hair from one angle, then paused and went for another angle, then paused again and finally placed her arms back in her lap with a laugh.

"What's the matter?" asked Arnold.

She shook her head and looked at him. "I don't know how I should put it in…The only thing I ever really did was pigtails and I'm a little old for them now. I'm not exactly sure what I should try and do…"

Arnold sat up a bit and much to her surprise suddenly took her face in both of his hands, looking very closely at her hair. Helga's breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened. "Hmm…can I try again? The last time was only so sloppy because I was trying to surprise you."

An almost frightened Helga nodded and automatically handed him the ribbon. She turned around so that the back of her head was facing him, and closed her eyes as she savored him putting up her hair.

"Okay, how's that?" asked Arnold after a few seconds. Helga opened her eyes and stood, turning to the large mirror over the mantle in the den. Arnold had pulled back the top layer of her hair and secured it on top with the pink ribbon in her hair. She smiled at the sight—less hair was touching the back of her neck so it felt cooler, her hair wouldn't fall into her eyes, it was a simple enough style to do…all in all, much better than her old pigtails.

She turned around to Arnold. "Thanks, Arnold. It looks beautiful."

He smiled at her and stood as well. "Yeah…you do, you know."

Helga felt herself blush and she swallowed hard. She took a deep breath and tried to find a new topic of conversation. "So…what happened to that old photo album that this thing used to hold together…?" Helga tried to ask the question as casually as possible but knowing the answer was very important to her. Photos and pictures had been her and Arnold's strongest connection over the last few years, and if he had just thrown it away or something she would know once and for all that this thing really was one sided…that these exchanges really hadn't meant to Arnold what they'd meant to her.

Arnold smiled and walked toward the lighted palm tree, admiring it. "I'd say Rhonda's probably in the middle of trying to fit as many pages of it as she possibly can into the designs for the year book." He turned around to face her. "That was a good suggestion you put in your letter, but I beat you to it!"

Helga blushed furiously. "But how—when did you—"

Arnold suddenly held up the now torn open letter that Helga had given to Phil addressed to him. She looked at him with wide eyes, unsure of what to say.

"You know," he began slowly, a bit of sadness coming to his face, "I really wish you _had_ sent me those other letters Helga. I had a feeling you weren't telling me a lot of things…I just didn't realize how literally that was true." He walked closer to her. "But you're right…something about just giving each other some time and some space…somehow I think that was what we both needed, even though it hurt."

He looked at her very seriously for a second and Helga felt tears coming into her eyes. "I'm sorry too about the thing back then…" he smiled to himself. "We fought every chance we got, didn't we? But I think you're right—I think it was just because we were angry and frustrated about being apart and being so young…and being in love…"

Helga felt the tears getting harder to hold back. She tried not to look into his eyes.

Arnold sighed and tried to resume his happier tone of voice. "Anyway, I saw the whole gang a couple of weeks ago when we first got here and Rhonda was telling me how she told you she thought some stuff from San Lorenzo would be great for the yearbook so I brought her by all of the pages and she's going to get it back to me in a few months." He paused. "Don't worry, I told her to be careful—it's one of the most important things I own."

Helga felt her heart flutter as he said this about the book. In addition, she was a little surprised to hear this bit of information about meeting the whole gang. "You've been here that long?" she asked, surprised.

He glanced away. "Yeah, since the beginning of the month. I was disappointed when I found out I'd have to wait until now to see you…You went into some detail in your letter but did you have at least have _some_ fun on your trip?"

Helga rolled her eyes. "Eh, I tried to entertain myself but Bob kept dragging us to random business dinners and seminars and every night I got stuck watching Olga's kids. They're cute, but—not exactly a vacation if you catch my drift."

She smiled at him and he laughed. "I'd like to meet Olga's kids. Especially since I'm going to be such a 'good Dad, one day.'" He quoted her letter and crossed his arms in front of his chest, smiling.

Helga blushed. She rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. "I knew I shouldn't have sent that letter without thinking about it more."

He laughed again.

Helga cleared her throat and glanced away, trying to change the subject. "So then…now that we're both here…how long until you have to…you know…go back…?" She was trying to seem nonchalant again but she knew the intended tone sounded strained.

Arnold raised an eyebrow at her and walked right up to her. He leaned in close to her face. "Guess!" he said almost playfully.

Helga blinked. "Arnold, I don't—what are you talking about?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Guess how long we're going to be here. I already gave you a big hint, Helga…Come on, you're the smartest girl I know. It should be obvious."

For the first time during their conversation Helga scowled. "Oh come on, Football Head, how the heck am I supposed to know?"

He laughed at the return of her old attitude. "Okay, fine, I'll give you another hint. Close your eyes…"

Helga rolled her eyes, but then closed them. "Oh brother, considering all the suitcases in here you're probably getting on the plane in two hours and you wanna stand here playing games…"

Instantly, she felt a warm pressure against her nose and shut up. This was all very familiar…

Suddenly the pressure against her nose went away and she felt a hand flick her bow hard.

"Ow!" she pulled away and opened her eyes, scowling at Arnold. "Hey, what the heck was that about, Arnoldo?!"

He laughed hard. "Have you guessed yet?"

Helga growled. "Arnold, do _not_ think I won't sock you if you don't quit annoying me!"

Arnold crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Wow, you really are in denial…Mom and Dad figured you'd figure it out the second I came up behind you."

Helga raised an eyebrow in curiosity. '_What the heck is he talking about?_'

Arnold sighed. "Okay, let me try one more hint. Close your eyes again."

Helga merely remained scowling at him. "No dice, Football Head. Just do whatever ridiculous thing you have to do right in front of me."

Arnold shrugged. "Okay." He reached down onto the couch and pulled up a small blue object. He turned around to Helga and placed it on his head, then walked back over to her. "So, you have your bow in your hair, and I have my hat on my head…Now, are we staying forever, or just the next century or two? Guess."

It took a second for Helga to process this sentence. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she grabbed Arnold's face and pressed his lips firmly against her own for the first kiss they had shared in a very long time…

"Well, I see the kids aren't wasting any time!"

Arnold and Helga instantly broke apart and blushed furiously at the sound of Phil's voice. They turned to see him as well as Miles and Stella entering the den, all smiling. With a few lively snorts, Abner ran a few circles around them and settled in on the couch. Suddenly, the sounds of the other boarders (who had all run around to the front of the Boarding House to assist with Arnold's surprise for Helga, and who were now in the kitchen continuing the barbeque) met their ears.

Helga crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Phil, that wasn't funny—he almost gave me a heart attack when he snuck up behind me!"

Phil laughed. "I've still got it—King of Pranks even at 89!"

Helga rolled her eyes but couldn't help laughing. She looked to Miles and Stella and asked almost shyly, "So…is it true…are you really…really staying?"

Miles and Stella looked to each other and then back to Helga. "It's time for us to be back here," Stella explained. "The Green Eyes people are a lot better now and we can make a visit or two back there over the next few months just to make sure everything's okay…Besides, Arnold had to sacrifice a lot coming to live with us and we at least wanted him to have his senior year back in the city."

Helga turned to Arnold smiling. "You mean you're coming back to school with us?!"

He grabbed her hand. "Of course. And before you even ask, I checked your class schedule with Phoebe and had the administration put us together as much as possible…if that's okay with you?"

Helga gave him one of her classic punches in the shoulder and smirked. "Oh shut up." He laughed and she paused for a second and looked at him an eyebrow raised. "Hey, you didn't flinch? Very impressive—looks like you're finally not a wimp anymore, Football Head." He laughed even more.

Suddenly, Gertie entered the den carrying a try of delicious looking treats. "Well, let's dig in—fresh raspberry tarts right from the oven! Merry Labor Day, everyone!"

"Merry Labor Day!" they all chorused in unison.

Instantly, the tray was empty as all of the borders and Miles, Stella, Phil and Gertie dug into the tray. Arnold managed to grab two of the tarts as well, Helga noticed, and he approached her with them.

Helga grabbed one of the tarts from him and was about to take a bite when suddenly she felt him slide up close to her. He whispered something into her ear. He pulled back to look at her and saw with a smile the bright blush upon her face. "So…would around 7 be okay?" he asked in a low voice so as not to attract the attention of anyone else.

Helga just swallowed hard and replied in a very quiet voice. "Sure, Arnold…it—it's a…a…"

* * *

'_A date_.' Arnold had asked her if she wanted to go out on a date. Specifically, he had asked her if she wanted to try going out on their first date. Helga knew this would probably have sounded unheard of if she mentioned it to any of the kids (except for Gerald and Phoebe who understood the situation) but technically speaking…even though she was 17 she'd never actually been out on an official date.

_'Well, I guess that one Valentine's day in fourth grade with Arnold counted. Although, I was technically pretending to be somebody else and he was technically at the restaurant only about half the time…_' she thought to herself with a slight smile.

Other than that though…Helga had tried over the years every once in a while to consider going out with another guy but somehow the idea of it always felt so forced to her. Like he was just going to end up being a place holder for the only one she really wanted to be with. And as for dating Arnold…well, there were times of course when she'd randomly found herself spending time alone with him during the few times he'd visited, and even in San Lorenzo during that one summer. But after that first year and especially after all that stuff in junior high…Helga shook her head, trying to put the bad memories at the back of her mind. Arnold was here now and she wanted to make a fresh start, and it seemed that he did too. Anyway, they had just never really gotten around to anything 'official.' Besides, in a way Helga always had felt guilty taking away time from Arnold that he could be spending with his grandparents when he was in the city. She recalled that that had actually been a big part of the reason she hadn't gone to the first Christmas party he'd thrown after he'd moved. _'Though of course he defeated the whole purpose by leaving them to come find me on that stupid building…classic Arnold—always putting everyone else before himself.'_

"Are you okay, Helga?"

Helga came out of her thoughts at the sound of Arnold's voice and suddenly looked up at him with a smile. "Yeah…sorry, Football Head, I was just thinking about something."

Helga was currently out on her stoop with Arnold. He had shown up at 7 like he had promised—exactly on time actually. Helga had thought about dressing up but to be honest she had no idea where they were going since he flat out refused to tell her. In addition, even though it was nighttime now there was still a fair amount of heat in the air. As a result of these things, she'd just grabbed a thin denim jacket and a nicer pair of white sandals. As an afterthought she'd also added a touch of makeup to her face. Her hair, of course, she'd left just as Arnold had put it up a few hours ago.

Arnold smiled at her. "So, are you ready?"

"Yeah…" Helga said with just a touch of nervousness in her voice. Suddenly she raised an eyebrow as she finally noticed the empty street in front of her. "So, are we walking wherever the heck it is you're taking me?"

Arnold laughed. "No, our ride should be here in—hey, there he is!" Arnold pointed down the street where Helga could hear some kind of automobile making its squeaking way down the street. She squinted to try and make out what it could be in the dimness of the streetlights, and suddenly her eyes widened as it pulled up in front of the Pataki stoop.

She turned to Arnold, an eyebrow raised. "A bus?"

"Our bus." He grabbed one of her hands and pulled her down to the sidewalk.

The bus doors opened. "Hey, Arnold. Hey, Helga. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, Murray." Arnold smiled.

"Murray!" Helga exclaimed in surprise. "What're you doing here? I thought you were only doing the weekday morning shifts to the school."

"Well, I figured this is a special occasion." He looked to Arnold and winked at him and Arnold winked back.

Helga looked from one guy to the other and rolled her eyes. "Oh brother, this night is either going to be really good or really bad for me, isn't it?"

Arnold laughed. "Come on, we can sit in the back and...play 'I Spy' or something…"

He pulled her onto the bus. "Arnold, seriously, where are you taking me? You know I hate surprises unless I'm the one giving them."

They walked down the bus aisle. "I'm sorry, all questions must be submitted in writing in triplicate."

They reached the back and sat down on the old pleather seat. "You _are_ aware of the fact that I have no patience and could still knock you out with one punch, right, Football Head?"

* * *

"I spy with my little eye something that begins with…I'm-going-to-kill-you-if-you-don't-quit-making-me-play-I-Spy, Football Head."

Arnold laughed as Helga sighed in exasperation. '_Arnold is probably the only seventeen-year-old boy in existence who would say 'let's go to the back of the dark bus and play 'I spy' ' and actually MEAN it._'

"Well, here we are!" Murray announced, pulling the bus to a stop on a very dark street in front of a very lit up building.

Helga, extremely curious about where they were going as they had been driving for over a half an hour, looked out the window eagerly. She raised an eyebrow. "Where are we, Football Head? I've never seen this place before in my life."

"That's what you think." He stood up and offered one of his hands to her, which she slowly took. They walked to the end of the aisle. "Thanks again, Murray. Can you come get us in a couple of hours?"

"Sure thing, Arnold. Just call if you need me earlier…or later." Helga noticed Arnold blush just slightly and glance away as Murray tacked on this last part to his response.

Arnold cleared his throat. "Well, come on, Helga. Let's go!"

"Uh…sure thing, Football Head." She turned back to Murray. "Good seeing you, Murray. If you're heading home before you come back for us, say 'hi' to Mona and Craig for me."

He winked. "Will do. See you later, Helga." Both kids exited the bus, the doors shut, and then Murray pulled away leaving them in front of this bright place.

Arnold took Helga's hand in his own and the two of them began to approach the building. Helga blinked and suddenly had a flash of déjà vous. "Arnold!" She suddenly stopped walking and looking at the surrounding street and landscape…"This isn't…is this the old FTi building, is it?" Needless to say, Helga hadn't returned to the old building after that last Christmas. Too many memories…

Arnold smiled. "Yeah…some company bought it a while ago and renovated it."

Helga glanced at the large sign on the front of the building. "Hillwood Heights…Hotel?" She raised an eyebrow and turned to Arnold.

He blushed considerably again and glanced away from her as they came to the large glass revolving front door. "Yeah, it's some fancy hotel now…but they have a really nice restaurant inside," he added quickly, "and I thought we could go there."

Helga blinked at him and couldn't help blushing. "Oh yeah…sounds good, Arnold."

They entered the lobby and Arnold let Helga's hand go as he addressed the receptionist. "Excuse me, I have a reservation for two at the Washington Street Restaurant."

The receptionist smiled at him. "Certainly, sir. If you'll just go in the back to the maitre d' he should be able to direct you to your table in the dining room."

Arnold lowered his voice a little, still smiling. "Actually, I have the _special_ reservations for tonight. The ones under the name 'Arnold.'"

The receptionist looked at him with just a touch of confusion, then glanced down at some papers on her desk and then glanced back up at Arnold smiling. "Oh, here it is…yes, of course. The door is right on the other side of the lobby. Someone should be up shortly to take your orders."

"Thank you." Arnold smiled and turned back to Helga. "Let's go."

* * *

A few minutes later Helga found herself staring at something truly unbelievable.

Down in the lobby, Arnold had lead her to a grey exit door and up a long flight of dank steps, and then pushed open another grey exit door at the top. Now, Helga stood looking at a small table with candles and chairs set-up on the roof of the building.

"Arnold, how the heck did you—when did you—how much did this all—"

Arnold just shrugged. "Don't worry about it, Helga. I just had a lot of free time on my hands with you being gone for the last two weeks, and when I explained the situation to them down stairs they were pretty understanding. Besides, you know, Rhonda's family owns this place so it wasn't too hard to convince them to make a few special arrangements." He smiled at her. "So…how am I doing so far with this whole 'first date' thing?"

Helga was still at a loss for words, but she managed to sputter out, "Uh…not bad, Football Head. Not…not bad at all…" She felt a smile come to her face.

Arnold laughed and the two took their seats.

Suddenly, they heard the door to the roof open and close and a tall man with slightly greying hair and a slight French accent approached their table. "Mademoiselle, Monsieur…can I start you off with anything to drink this evening?"

Helga blinked a few times at the individual before her. '_That's not…it couldn't be…There's no way that…_'

"I think I'll have a bottle of your finest Yahoo soda, my good man," replied Arnold humorously. "You, Helga?"

Helga was still in shock at seeing who the waiter was and as a result just blinked a few times and replied with a grin on her face, "Uh yeah, same here, Garcon."

With just a touch of disdain at two teenagers ordering sodas at one of the most fancy restaurants within the city limits, the waiter replied, "Very good." He walked back to the door to the roof and exited.

Helga turned to Arnold. "Arnold, tell me that is not that same guy who was our waiter at Chez Paris a million years ago!"

Arnold laughed. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that. When I found out he was working here now that both those French places closed down I requested him to be our waiter specifically." He smiled. "You know, I'm really surprised Chez Pierre and Chez Paris survived as long as they did considering the fact that they were two almost identical restaurants right next door to each other."

Helga burst into laughter. "Tell me about it!" She paused for a second and then turned Arnold with a gleam in her eye. "Hey, does he recognize us, do you think?"

Arnold smiled. "Well, since the first thing he said to me when he realized I was the one making these reservations was 'Sacre bleu, ze 'amburger kid!' I think there's a chance.'

"Oh this is too perfect." She glanced away and then looked at Arnold again. "Hey, let me know what you want and I'll order for us, okay?"

Arnold raised an eyebrow at her. "Okay…but, why?"

"Oh, I just wanna teach Mr. Snooty that he's not dealing with a couple of nine-year-olds anymore."

Suddenly, the door opened and the waiter approached, carrying the two sodas. Arnold quickly glanced down at his menu and then whispered something in Helga's ear before he got to the table.

"Two 'Yahoo' sodas for ze lady and ze gentleman." He placed the bottles before them and then straightened up, pen and pad of paper in hand. "Now, may I take your orders—some 'amburgers, perhaps?"

Helga cleared her throat. "Garçon, Je veux le pot au feu. Le monsieur veut le tartre de bifteck. Et deux salads, si'il vous plait."

The waiter blinked in total surprise. "Eh…oui, mademoiselle. Naturellement." And with these stunned words he left to put in their orders.

Arnold raised an eyebrow, chuckling. "Helga, that was…really impressive…or maybe I should say really _sophisticated_."

His choice of words made them both burst into laughter at the memory of their second dinner at Chez Paris.

"Wow, I guess you really have been taking French," offered Arnold, as they managed to get their laughter under control.

"Yeah, no more accidental cow brains and eggs for me."

There was second of silence and then the laughter started all over again.

* * *

"…yeah so then Gerald's practically too scared to move at this point and it's pitch black in the room and I give Phoebe a nudge and she walks out and says as quietly as possible 'Boo!" and he just totally freaks…I swear, it was the best April Fools prank Phoebe and I ever pulled!"

Arnold laughed, taking another bite of his food. "Oh boy, I would've loved to have seen the look on his face."

"Yeah it was pretty classic…" Helga had laughed so hard that she could actually feel a few tears falling down her face as she took the last bite of her meal.

The both looked to the side as the door opened again revealing their waiter. He approached the table. "Est terminé le repas?" he asked Helga.

Helga smiled and turned to Arnold. "Done, Football Head?"

Arnold put his fork down and pushed his plate away slightly. "Yup."

Helga turned back to the waiter. "Oui, merci."

He grabbed their plates. "And will there be any dessert this evening?"

"Well," Arnold started, smirking, "I wouldn't mind some candy bars or a great big waffle with ice cream on to—"

Helga rolled her eyes and put a hand over his mouth, silencing him. "Nous voulons deux mousses de chocolat, si'il voux plait."

The waiter cast another disdainful look at Arnold. "Oui, mademoiselle. Un excellent choix." He turned and exited the roof again.

Helga removed her hand from Arnold's mouth. "You're a regular riot, you know that. If that guy didn't want to tattoo the word 'crass' onto your forehead _before_ he's sure getting the ink ready to do it _now_." Arnold laughed.

Helga smiled and then turned to gaze out at the view of the city from the rooftop for what felt like the millionth time that night. In the distance the lights of the buildings glowed brightly, and the summer haze gave them an almost blurred effect that made the sight very beautiful indeed.

Suddenly, she turned facing forward again as she felt Arnold put his hand on top of hers on the table. Her eyes went wide and she blinked and then looked to him. He was still staring off into the night just as she had been though, a slight smile on his face.

"Hey, Helga?"

"Yeah?"

"I've missed you."

"Yeah…Me too."

Silence.

"Hey Helga?"

"Yeah?" her tone was a bit more playful.

"Do you want to go steady?" He glanced at her.

Helga felt her heart flutter but rolled her eyes. "Arnold, it's the 21st century. No one says 'going steady' anymore. Sheesh, you really ARE corny."

Arnold shrugged. "Well, I was going to ask you to marry me but I figured that would be a little much since this is technically our first date."

Helga felt her face go red. She tried to hide the obvious nervousness in her voice. "Well, since I always have loved playing hard to get, I guess I'll take 'steady' over 'married'…you know, for now."

Arnold laughed.

Suddenly the roof door opened again and the waiter appeared, placing two chocolate mousses in front of Arnold and Helga. "Bon appétit, mademoiselle et monsieur." And with a quick bow he left them alone again.

Helga and Arnold took up their spoons and slowly began to eat.

After a bite or two, Helga noticed with curiosity Arnold suddenly standing up, wiping off his mouth, and pushing his chair into the table. He leaned against the ledge of the rooftop, a smile on his face. Helga placed her spoon down as well and looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

"You know…I love you, Helga."

Helga closed her eyes for just a second and felt a warmth wash over her. Like she was coming to the end of something and on the other side was all the hope in the world.

"HEY!" Arnold touched the side of his face where he suddenly felt a big blob of something cold had landed. He touched it, looked at it, and brought it to his mouth. '_Chocolate_…' He looked back at Helga, who was standing near the table with a satisfied smirk on her face and the spoon that she had just used to flick the blob of chocolate moose at him in her hand.

She put down the spoon and picked up a cloth napkin, walking over to Arnold. She winked at him. "I love you too, Arnold," she replied as she wiped some of the chocolate from his face.

Arnold smiled and looked into her eyes , and he suddenly became very aware that her face was very close to his. She brought her eyes up and stopped wiping the side of his head as they met with his, and Helga had the same realization about the proximity of their faces.

Both seventeen year olds shifted closer to one another, their eyes closing. Helga felt her lips meet Arnold's very delicately, in a way she had never kissed him before. And for the first time in a long, long time it felt like her heart was fully open and fully happy. It felt like she could breathe deeply. And she pushed into the kiss harder, never wanting to let it go.

Arnold pushed back as well, and somehow it felt like no time had passed between their last kiss here and this moment now.

After a few seconds, Arnold and Helga slowly separated. There was a second of silence between them, then Arnold spoke. "You know…the meal's all paid for and everything…so we can stay up here for a little while longer and…" he blushed, "and talk…or go back home…it's up to you."

Helga smiled just a little mischievously at him. "You are a _dog_, Arnoldo! Getting me _alone_ up here, planning dinner _conveniently_ in a hotel—I swear if that bus just happens to 'run out of gas' on the way home and Murray has to 'go get help' for a few hours I'm going to start thinking your intentions aren't very pure."

Arnold blushed furiously. "Helga?!"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, Football Head—you really can't take a joke, can you? Well, this makes us even for that time when we were ten and you convinced me that you were going to tell my parents and my sister that I loved you. Remember that? You did it that night before Christmas when we were going back to your house after you found me up here sitting in the snow."

Arnold rolled his eyes, then smiled at her. "Speaking of which, _did_ you ever tell your parents about us?"

Helga shrugged. "Not _explicitly_. I mean, I didn't pledge my undying love for you at the dinner table one night or anything. But they knew I was going out tonight and that it was with you."

"What about your sister?"

Helga blinked then blushed slightly. "Actually, you know…it took a little while—and believe me, like I said in my letter the marriage and the kids helped a bit—but actually we do talk about you and me sometimes."

"Really?" Arnold smiled.

"Yeah…it's been nice actually having someone in my family I can go to." She looked at him and smiled. "I mean, don't get me wrong—we're not having makeover slumber parties where we plan the wedding or anything," Helga tried not to blush—in truth there actually had been one or two events like that, but she was trying to save a little face here—"But we talk and it helps."

"Good," Arnold said with a degree of relief. He smiled. "I'm happy for you, Helga."

Helga smiled as well, then cleared her throat. "So…you ever talk to Miles and Stella about us?"

Arnold nodded. "Yeah, and Grandpa too when I get a chance…" he grinned. "It really is nice to _get_ advice rather than _give_ it every once in a while."

Helga laughed.

Suddenly, she turned to look over the ledge of the building as down below she heard the familiar sounds of a squeaking city bus coming up the street. "Looks like Murray's here."

Arnold turned to look at the approaching city bus as well. "Yeah, I guess so…" He turned to Helga. "So, you ready to go?" He stood and offered her a hand up.

"Yeah…it's already starting to get late and Big Bob'll freak if I'm home after 10. Now that you're here though I've really got to talk to him about extending that curfew." She stood and stretched. "Besides, I don't wanna keep Murray out too late. He's got a family to get home to."

Arnold sighed, smiling at her. "Yeah, you're probably right." Still, there seemed to be just a touch of disappointment in his voice…something that suggested that he wanted the night here to go on just a little bit longer.

Helga smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. "Besides…we've got a lot of time now…Everyday, actually, to catch up. I think we've had enough heartfelt moments for one night—I'm the world's biggest closet romantic and even _I'm_ starting to get a cavity from all of this handholding and sweet talk."

Arnold laughed. "Whatever you say, Helga."

"As always, the best response to any situation between you and me." She winked.

He began to walk toward the roof exit, but stopped as he realized Helga wasn't following him. He turned around and looked at her. "Are you okay, Helga?"

"Just out of curiosity…" she turned back to him, "Do you think that they'd ban us from here for life if we rappelled down to the street to get to Murray's bus instead of taking the stairs…just for old time's sake?"

There was a second of silence and then the two teenagers burst into laughter that filled the warm, softly glowing rooftop under the hazy summer night.

* * *

"Goodnight, Helga. And 'Merry Labor Day!'" Arnold winked at her as he kissed her hand, leaving her on her stoop. Murray had just dropped them off.

Helga laughed. "Yeah, same to you Football Head! And say 'Merry Labor Day' to everyone at the Boarding House for me!"

Arnold laughed and waved goodbye to her and she waved back to him.

Helga lingered on her stoop looking at the direction in which Arnold had disappeared for quite a few minutes after he was out of sight.

Suddenly, her front door opened, interrupting her reverie. "Helga, I saw that bus drop you off _twenty_ minutes ago. And I saw the boy leave _fifteen_ minutes ago. What are you still doing out here?" Olga Pataki grinned slyly at her sister.

Helga blushed and cleared her throat, turning toward her sister. "Oh, hey, Olga. I, uh…didn't realize anyone was still going to be up."

Olga sighed and smiled. "Well, you've been talking about Arnold for years so I was a little curious about how a date with him was going to go, Baby Sister."

Olga opened the door and Helga stepped inside, closing it behind her.

"So?" Olga asked eagerly.

Helga just took off her jacket and hung it up. "So…what?"

Olga sighed in impatience, a grin on her face. "_How_ did it _go_?!?!"

Helga laughed. "You know, Olga, some people don't kiss and tell…"

"Ah, so there was kissing involved. Now we're getting somewhere!"

Helga rolled her eyes. "Olga!"

"Oh, but Baby Sister you HAVE to give me something. Come on, I've been stuck here all day getting Tina ready for her first day of school next week and trying to nurse Tuck's cold, and the cable's been out because of all the brownouts."

Helga laughed. "Well…he just took me to dinner…"

"Well, that sounds nice." Olga smiled brightly.

Helga took a deep breath and continued. "…On a rooftop…where I confessed that I loved him when we were nine years old…and then he asked me to 'go steady' like the great big goofball he is!" She couldn't help but finish with a girlish sigh.

Olga's mouth dropped open. "He did NOT! Oh Helga, that's absolutely the most romantic thing I've ever heard of!!!"

"I know! I know! I know!" Helga was trying to keep her voice low so that she wouldn't wake up anybody else in the house (the last thing she needed was an audience for her gushing). She took a few breaths to calm herself. "So, yeah, it went pretty okay."

Olga smiled and hugged her little sister. "Oh, Helga, I'm so happy for you!"

Helga laughed, trying playfully to wriggle out of her sister's arms. "Easy, Olga—you could crush a bear's lungs with that vice grip hug of yours."

Olga let her go. "Hey, I know—since everyone else is asleep and the cable's out why don't I make us some popcorn and brownies and we can watch a bunch of old romantic comedies and monster movies and you can tell me EVERYTHING while I paint your nails and brush your ha—" She stopped, her eyes wide. "HELGA!!! It's your ribbon!!! I didn't notice it before!" She touched it gently.

Helga blushed and touched it. "Yeah…remember, I told you that I…uh…gave it to the old Football Head a long time ago and told him to bring it back when he moved here for good…and well…you know…"

"Oh that is the most charming thing in the world!!!" Olga giggled happily. "Now come on, we'll spend the night having some real girl talk about all of this—Have you decided on a China pattern yet?"

Helga rolled her eyes as she felt herself dragged forward by Olga. "Olga!"

"Now you just get upstairs and I'll take care of all the food!" She pushed the young girl toward the stairs. "Oh, and I almost forgot—mommy and daddy told me about your story that won that prize at school. Bring a copy of it down and some of the other stuff I know you must be working on—I'd love to read some of it!"

Helga smiled. "Thanks, Olga…I'd like that…"

* * *

Upstairs, Helga collapsed onto her bed, grabbed one of her pink pillows, and squealed in delight into it. She took a few deep breaths and then proceeded to change from her clothes into pajamas.

She was about to head downstairs when she remembered Olga's request for some of her writing. She quickly grabbed her portfolio off of her desk and was about to head back downstairs but then paused. Slowly, she went back across her room and opened her closet door. She pushed aside her clothes and some old boxes of stuff she had worn over the years that she'd since grown out of. Finally in the back she found an old dusty box and pulled it forward. She opened it and gazed for a few nostalgic seconds at the assortment of small books within, each a different shade of pink. She reached inside and grabbed the only one whose tassel bookmark was not closed inside of one of the covers (which would have signified that the book was already full).

She took the book and sat on her bed. The she grabbed one of her purple pens from her nightstand and hesitantly opened the book to the next blank page. Slowly she put the pen to the paper…and to her surprise started writing…

* * *

"Knock, knock—you who! Helga, I've had everything set up downstairs for fifteen minutes. Are you coming Baby Sis—" Olga opened Helga's door and paused as she saw with surprise that Helga was sitting on her bed, writing away.

Helga suddenly looked up, smiling. "Oh, hey, Olga. Sorry, I just sat down for a second to put something down and then I guess I…I guess I just got carried away."

Olga sat down on the bed next to her sister, smiling. "Anything you'd be willing to let me read? Another story or—"

"Actually," Helga began with a bit of surprise in her voice, "It's a poem…"

Olga blinked. "You…you haven't written one of those in a while, have you, Helga?" Helga had explained to Olga one day a few years ago in one of her darker moments about the old poetry and about how Arnold's leaving had somehow made it stop coming.

"No…not for a while." She finished a line and then closed the small book with satisfaction. She turned to her sister. "I mean, there's still my story ideas that I can't wait to work on…" Helga said, gesturing to her portfolio, "…but there's poetry all of a sudden, too…"

Olga smiled. "That's great, Helga."

"Yeah…Would you…you know, maybe look at some of this stuff with me and maybe you could give me some advice? I mean, you're the one who got the A in Elizabethan poetry." Helga nudged her sister slightly, referring to the time in elementary school when a jealous Helga had changed her sister's grades.

Olga laughed. "I could still kill you for that, you know. If they didn't print up all the grades electronically now I'd switch a few of your English A's to B's or D's and we'd see how YOU like it."

Helga laughed and picked up the pink book and her portfolio case again, standing up. "Well, just keep in mind we you read the poetry that I'm a little rusty at it…the stories are crafted a lot better."

Olga laughed. "Okay, Baby Sister. I'll keep the circumstances in mind…" The two girls approached Helga's door and headed downstairs.

* * *

Arnold closed the bathroom door behind him and made his way down the dark boarding house hallway to a very familiar ladder leading to a very familiar attic room. He climbed up and opened the old door…years had passed and yet getting up there had felt like second nature to him the first time he'd tried it upon returning to the Boarding House. Ten steps, the fourth one creaks so try not to put too much weight on it, turn the handle and push the door because it sticks in the heat…

Arnold entered the room and shut the door behind him. He yawned, grabbed the room remote from the end table by the door, and turned on the lights so he could see the way to his old bed.

"Surprise, man!!!"

"AHHH!!!" Arnold fell on the floor, breathing heavily. Finally he looked up at the figure standing before him. "Gerald—don't _do_ that to me—you almost gave me a heart attack!" Gerald fell into a fit of laughter and Arnold tried hard not to chuckle as well as he stood up. "What're you doing here and how did you get up here anyway?"

Gerald shrugged. "Well, I was thinking about how even though you've been home I've been really busy with Phoebe, and about how Helga's not been around lately and about what the best thing to do to celebrate you coming back here for good would be…and then it hit me! We should have one of our patented Arnold/Gerald sleepovers just like in elementary school!"

Arnold just smiled and shook his head as Gerald continued. "So," he gestured to a pile of things Arnold now noticed in the center of his room, "I got all the old Purdy Boy books out of my basement, bought us a 12 pack of Yahoo sodas and a 12 pack of Mr. Fudgie bars, and rented all four Evil Twin Movies, and then I had Phil let me in about an hour ago! Now, let's do this!"

Arnold had to laugh. "You know Gerald, it's already almost 11."

Gerald raised an eyebrow at his friend. "And what are we—9? It's summer and we're both gonna be seniors—live a little man!"

Arnold laughed and sat on the end of his bed. "Well, I just got back from a date—does that count as living?"

Gerald blinked and his smile fell. "Helga's back then, I take it?" he asked tentatively.

"Big time…" Arnold glanced away, smiling.

Gerald sat down on Arnold's couch, looking a little leery. "So…are things…you know…okay with you guys?"

Arnold considered for a second. "They're…better. Now. I mean, we're not quite at the level of you and Phoebe—I think Helga described you guys as an 'old married couple' in her letter—but we're okay now."

Gerald blushed, but smiled. "I'm happy for you, man." He got up and walked over to Arnold and the two boys did their secret handshake.

* * *

Five hours and more junk food and monster movies than it should be legal to consume in one sitting later, Arnold reentered his room from a trip to the bathroom to find Gerald passed out on his couch. He laughed to himself and got into his own bed, shutting off the TV and turning down the lights with his remote. "Goodnight, Gerald."

Arnold pulled a sheet over his body and yawned. He turned toward the line of shelves next to his bed where he had put pictures and random knickknacks during his life before San Lorenzo. Arnold's suitcase was right by his bed and he reached into it quickly and fished around for a few seconds until he felt a familiar object wrapped carefully in paper. He pulled it out and unwrapped it, then propped the item against objects on the shelf in such a way that he could look at it as he fell asleep. In the dim light from the stars overhead he could just make out the faint, fading image of himself and Helga at three years old playing together. Rhonda didn't need EVERY picture, after all…

"Goodnight, Helga." He whispered, and then drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, everyone!!!" Grandpa announced as a few more of the high schoolers entered the boarding house. He ushered them inside, and quickly shut the door behind them to keep the heat in and the cold out.

"Helga? Helga? Oh there you are, sweetie. Come on, a lot more of your friends just arrived." He walked into the kitchen where he had seen Helga sitting alone as he had led her classmates to the party in the den. "What are you doing just sitting in the corner? It's a holiday—come celebrate, drink some eggnog, have some cookies." Grandpa winked at her.

"Thanks, Grandpa." She hid a piece of paper she was looking at in her pocket and smiled at him. "Sorry…I was just thinking about something." She stood up and followed him out into the hall.

"You know," he whispered to her, "If you're looking for Shortman, I think he's up in his room. Maybe you could go get him and bring him down—let him know more guests have arrived." He winked.

Helga blushed. "Uh, sure, Phi—Grandpa. No problem."

She made her way to the boarding house steps.

"Phil, where's Helga going?" asked Stella, suddenly coming up behind him.

He turned to her, smiling slyly. "Oh, I sent her to get young Arnold in his room. Heh, heh, heh—I'm such a wily old coot."

Stella rolled her eyes and smiled. "Come on, Mr. Matchmaker. Gertie's about to start playing the Star Spangled Banner on the piano and she insists that you're front and center."

"Aw!" grumbled Grandpa as Stella pulled him to the den, "How many times do I have to explain to her…"

* * *

Helga finished ascending the ladder to Arnold's room and knocked on his door. "Hey, Football Head! Grandpa wanted me to tell you that everyone's here already so you should get your butt downstairs before I claim all of your presents!"

A few seconds passed with no response and a look of concern came to Helga's face. "Football Head, is everything okay in there?" She knocked harder. Nothing.

"Okay, Arnold, I'm coming in there and this better not be a yuletide prank or else you're dead…" She slowly opened Arnold's door and peered into his room.

It looked just the same as it usually did, just the same as it always had. But no Arnold.

She raised an eyebrow. "Weird…" She closed the door behind her and took a few steps into the room. "Arnold!" Suddenly, a flash of light coming from above her caught her eye and she looked up through the skylight ceiling and saw the silhouette of a familiar figure who, she realized, must be holding a flashlight.

"Oh for Pete's sake…"

She went over to his bed and climbed up to the skylight exit, opening it and entering the roof. "Football Head, it's gotta be 10 degrees out here—what the heck are you doing?!" She walked over to him, her arms wrapped around her to protect from the cold.

Arnold blinked seeing her and instantly removed his jacket, giving it to her. "Helga, you shouldn't have come out here without a coat!"

She rolled her eyes but instantly accepted the jacket. "Well, like I said, it's so cold that _you_ shouldn't be out here at all. Honestly, Arnold, I don't know why you have this obsession with being out on rooftops."

He laughed. "Come on, let's get back into the house." He lead her back to the skylight entrance and down into his warm room again.

"Whoo! That feels good!" Helga announced, entering the room. She took off Arnold's jacket.

"Yeah—I think I might drink about a gallon of hot chocolate though, just in case," added Arnold.

Helga laughed. "I'll take a piece of that. Well, let's go back to the party, Football Head." Helga began to walk toward his door.

"Hey, Helga?"

She stopped, "What's up?"

He glanced away from her. "You know…it's past the 20th…"

Helga swallowed hard and she was reminded of the piece of paper in her pocket. "Yeah, I know…"

"So…" he looked up at her, "Did you hear from them, yet? They said by the 20th, right?"

Helga took a breath. "Uh, yeah…" she reached for the letter and pulled it out, then looked to Arnold smiling. "I…um…I got in." She approached him and handed him the acceptance letter to Wellington College.

Arnold looked at it, and then smiled at her. "That's great Helga" He picked her up in a hug and spun her around. "For Writing and French, right?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "I'm gonna double major and focus on fiction and…and poetry with the writing." She laughed. "Wow, I'll tell you, if you had told me 8 years ago that I was going to end up going to the same school as Olga I probably would have punched your lights out." She cleared her throat and continued. "But…it's a really great school and they have a lot of the stuff I'm looking to study."

Arnold smiled at her.

Helga's eyes fell slightly. "So…did you hear back from that university in South America yet? I know they said not until Christmas but…"

"Uh, yeah…I got in…" He didn't make eye contact with her.

There was a moment of silence.

"Congratulations, Football Head. I'm so proud of you." She smiled. "So…I guess we'll both have to leave in the fall but…we can still see each other at breaks and during the summer…That's good…and maybe we can start sending each other photos and drawings again…" She turned back in the direction of the door. "Well, come on, Arnoldo—I really want some of that hot chocolate." She put her hand on the door handle and turned it.

"I turned them down."

Helga's eyes flew open and she whipped around. "What?!"

Arnold shrugged. "I turned them down."

Helga scowled and she put her hands on her hips. "Arnold, are you crazy?!?! That was a great place and you've been filling my ears about it for the last two months?! They've got everything you want and it's even not that far of a plane ride from the Green Eyes village!" She walked back and grabbed one of his arms. "Now come on, we are calling up that school and telling them you made a horrible mistake and getting you your place there back one way or another even if I have to go down to South America personally and knock a few heads around!!!"

Arnold laughed. "Helga!"

"No, I do NOT want to hear it, Arnold—I am NOT going to let you—"

"Helga, I already sent an acceptance confirmation to another school."

Helga froze and turned around, looking at him with wide eyes. "Arnold, what are you talking about?"

"I'm going to be a freshman next year studying Anthropology and Art at Bartlett University…you know, the one that's a half hour from Wellington College." He smiled at her.

Helga's mouth dropped open. "Arnold…I…I don't want you to do that…I don't want you to do that just for me. I'll be fine, Football Head. Really. I want you to go and do everything you've ever wanted to do, and you wanted to go to that other sch—"

He put a hand over her mouth. "Yes, I did. And I also want to keep spending time with my parents and my grandparents and the boarders and you." He smiled. "Besides, Bartlett University has a nice exchange program with a few places in South America. I might take a semester to visit down there…but I think the place I should be living now is here."

He removed his hand from her mouth. Helga just stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"I promise." He winked at her and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Now come on—if we're up here alone too long we'll never hear the end of it from my Grandpa. Besides, that hot chocolate really does sound good right about now."

Helga smiled. "Whatever floats your boat, Football Head…"

They made their ways down the ladder and into the boarding house hallway. "Hey Helga?"

"Yeah, paste-for-brains?"

"Do you wanna go to the prom?"

"No, Arnold—as usual one of my many other gentleman callers beat you to the punch and I'm going with one of them."

"Darn it—well, I knew it was a long shot. Just another one of those times when I should have gone with my first instinct and asked you to marry me instead. I still feel like it's too soon though, you know?"

"Hey, throw it out there one of these days, Football Head…you never know what I'll say."

The reached the entrance to the den and Arnold turned to Helga. "Merry Christmas, Helga."

She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "Merry Christmas, Arnold."

She raised an eyebrow as she noticed that Arnold was just smiling at her and not entering the room. Suddenly, she glanced up at the doorframe and blushed. "Oh…mistlet—"

He kissed her, cutting off the word.

"Well," Grandpa suddenly announced from across the room, bringing everyone's attention to the kids, "Now those two really _are_ in the Holiday spirit!"

Arnold and Helga instantly separated and blushed furiously, looking around at the boarders as well as their classmates, who were all smiling at them. Needless to say, it hadn't exactly been that big of a shock to the other kids when September had come around and Arnold and Helga has walked into the school holding hands. After some of the stuff in San Lorenzo, and the number of times Helga had taken pictures to send to 'someone' over the years, and how often they'd been seen together talking and laughing over that last week of summer…it had been pretty obvious that there was something going on between them.

Helga glanced down shyly as she felt all of the eyes on her. Suddenly, though, she cleared her throat and looked up. "Eh, what the heck! It's a party!" She grabbed Arnold and kissed him again, much to his surprise.

When she was finished she turned back to the crowd. "There, now we've all seen Helga kiss Arnold, and we're all adults so enough smirking, GERALD, and let's get back to the party! Hit it, Grandma!"

"You got it, Eleanor!!!" And with that the old woman resumed her playing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Arnold laughed and looked at Helga. "I'll bet 8 years ago you wouldn't have dreamed of doing something like that in front of everyone."

Helga shrugged. "Yeah well 8 years ago you weren't threatening marriage proposals."

Arnold shrugged. "Fair enough." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. "Come on, we'll spend a little while longer here and then we can head over to your house."

"You know Arnold, I think you ARE finally ready for a Pataki family Christmas…and I think the Pataki's might just be ready for you too."

Arnold winked and with that the two kids resumed enjoying the party…and for the first Christmas in many years, Helga Pataki didn't feel alone in _any_ way.

* * *

**A/N:**

Well, I hope you guys liked this addition to the story. I've been writing for about the last 10 hours so I think I'm going to take a break now because whenever I blink I see blank word processing documents, lol. Take care and have safe and happy holidays, everyone! Oh, and to anyone who's following my other stories, I've got about the first third of chapter 4 of Dinner AND a Show all written up, and I had a major breakthrough with TA the other day so chapter 12 is coming along ;)

Happy Reading!  
Azure129 aka Jenna


	4. Pink and Blue, Red and Green

**A/N:  
**

Alright, the last thing I swore to post before Christmas! My goals are met! YAY :D

Lol, anyway I hope you guys enjoy this final (I SWEAR XD…Probably ;) ) epilogue to this fic that I think I've literally updated once every Christmas ever since I first published it, lol! It's just a brief thing but I think it wraps stuff up nicely and I really hope you all enjoy it! Please review, everyone! I love you all and happy holidays no matter what you celebrate ^_^

**HELGA PATAKI'S CHRISTMAS**

**Epilogue 2: **

**Pink and Blue, Red and Green (aka Arnold and Helga's Christmas)**

* * *

"Wow…It seems like it was just last year that we celebrated the annual Festival of the Holy Provolone."

"That's because it WAS only last year, cheese for brains!" This snarky comment was followed by a firm elbow nudge from its feisty, blonde-haired deliverer straight into the side of the certain football headed young man who had made the comment in the first place. "Just like the year before that and the year before that and the year before that, Captain Obvious."

The football headed man in question just chuckled, looking warmly into his girlfriend's eyes. "Hey, I was just saying…" Arnold laughed a little more, pulling his Helga close, his arm around her. "Hey, remember that time when we were in fourth grade when they tried doing two of these in one year?"

Helga laughed at the memory, more than happily allowing herself to be pulled against him, of course. "Yeah, and no even one said anything. Weird, huh?"

Arnold let out a sigh, still smiling at her. "Yeah…a lot of things were weird back then though…I mean, you and I weren't dating, for instance."

Helga let out a sigh as well. "_Tell me about it_. Crimeny, I'm surprised the cosmos didn't explode during those seven years. Who were you kidding, Football head? Trying to avoid our inevitable love…" She traced a little heart over his light blue polo shirt over his chest.

Arnold just let out a sigh and kissed the top of her hair…the hair with her ribbon tying back only the top layer…the style he'd designed for her that first day he had come back here to Hillwood forever…the style she had loved so much ever since. Along with the ribbon, she was only wearing a simple pale pink blouse today and a pair of faded jeans, but somehow…she'd never looked lovelier to him… (this situation, though, might have also had something to do with the fact that tucked away in the back pocket of his jeans…Arnold had something for this lovely woman before him…The loveliest thing he could think to give to the loveliest woman in the world.).

"Now, enough of this mush!" The words from Helga all of sudden interrupted Arnold's thoughts about her, and then he felt her separate from him and give him a light nudge in the shoulder. "Come on, Football head, after four long grueling years and EPIC amounts of student loans (and that HORRIBLE last semester when you went and studied abroad in South America, leaving lonely little me here in the States all by myself) we have finally graduated college and now we are back home and we are at this festival and we are celebrating!" She lowered her voice a little and leaned close to his ear. "I mean, before we do any serious 'celebrating'…tonight." She winked….and then pulled back once more with a giggle…and then she glanced around at the fair, just holding her beloved's hand and smiling. "So," her eyes went back to his again, "…another ride or are you in need of a break and ready to spring for a cheese kabob for me, Arnold, my dear? Name your poison."

Arnold just…smiled. Looked at her standing there and smiled. She looked so happy, so warm, so loving in this instant…surrounded by the glowing lights of the fair and the sounds of people, young and old, laughing and having fun together…an occasional friend or set of friends (now full grown couples) passing by in the background…here in his true home.

He smiled a little more…and glanced to the side just a little shyly…and for a moment his eyes fell on the ride they were actually right near and he almost chuckled. Standing right next to the Tunnel of Love…perfect. The perfect night, the perfect moment, the perfect place. He let out a breath.

Now. He wanted to do it now.

Arnold moved a hand behind himself to reach for the small aforementioned item in his back pocket...and prepared to kneel. "Helga, I have something very important to ask. Will you—"

"Oh brother, Arnold, seriously, are you really going to formally ask me if I'd like to go on the Tunnel of Love?" She smirked, shaking her at him, arms crossed over her chest at the sight of him actually in the middle of reaching out for her hand with one of his and even seeming to bow a little (before her words had stopped him, of course). Indeed, she had seen his eyes fall in the direction of the Tunnel of Love ride…and had assumed something. "First of all," she went on with a grin, "No one over the age of 13 goes on that thing, and second…" A mischievous look came to her eyes and her smile picked up on one side. "Why do you even need to officially ask? Doi, of course I'll go on with you for old time's sake, Football Head! Crimeny, you'd think after four years at an esteemed university and a lifetime of putting up with me you'd know the answer's probably going to be yes, Football Head. It's yes to anything and everything."

She took a step forward for the boats.

* * *

A moment should be taken now to address the fact that…Well, going back to a certain thought that a certain ten-year-old girl had had once on top of a certain formerly abandoned building…

'What kind of Helga would she become…without Arnold?'

Without Arnold for all of those years growing up…Helga had developed interests in photography, short story writing, French, cooking, music, the arts… She had truly been allowed to grow into her own person. A person with an identity the parts of which _didn't_ all just come back to Arnold. And however much she would have never admitted it while it was happening…it was a process that had been very very good for her. Even…Even those fights between her and Arnold as they had aged a little had been good for her and for them in general, actually: some time apart…some time to work out their aggressions, deal with their frustrations, just get it out of their systems. Because, heck, however wonderful and magical and miraculous it was, wasn't it allowed to bug them_ just a little _that they loved each other and couldn't help it even if they tried, like it was out of both of their controls or something…And yet at the same time they were torn apart both personally and as a couple…and ironically enough mostly by their own devices?

Anyway, the end result had been that Helga had not only learned what type of person she would become without Arnold…she had learned the skill of actually living without him in her life. She had learned that she could be strong enough…to be somebody without him. She still loved him so deeply but there was no need to cling…to feel like she was choking, eroding, drowning, DYING without him. There was no more of that fear and pain. It was gone…and all that remained was trust and faith…and a very deep understanding of what love really meant and was.

And then Arnold had returned.

And…there had been no regression…and also no stagnation.

Helga had merely now moved into the phase of her life of learning to still be entirely herself now that she knew how to do so…but also with Arnold with her and near her. To be both Helga…_and_ a member of Helga & Arnold…both at the same time, in other words, if that made any sense.

Whether she was aware of it or not it was the most adult thing Helga G. Pataki had ever done. And the best thing she had ever done for herself and let happen to herself. Period.

So, following Arnold's permanent return, there had been four years of learning to still be Helga (and even learning new things—refining her French and writing, taking drawing classes (maybe to illustrate some of those short stories of hers one of these days), trying a few random sports teams, calligraphy, volunteering)…while relearning being Arnold's Helga again. And…it had been like walking out of a dark tunnel. Making it past the halfway point. Heading only to light.

And so here she was now: Helga was a grown woman capable of living for herself as well as for Arnold…and most importantly for both at the same time.

And this now perfectly balanced and matured young woman was about to be proposed to, by the way…and by a young man who had also finally learned in his life after quite a few years of struggles and changes and shifts how to be both himself…and the man the woman he loved needed…and also both at the same time.

* * *

Back to our story…

Helga had just taken a step forward for the boats.

"Actually…" the word was accompanied by Arnold not releasing her hand and not moving forward with her, and so the young woman in question stopped and just looked back to her beloved with a puzzled smile while she waited for him to say whatever was on his mind.

Then he let out a sigh and smiled…pulled out a small black velvet box from behind him, and rolled his eyes to the side, rubbing the back of his neck. "Just this _once_…" he recalled that little joke that had started between them when he'd come back for good from San Lorenzo…and that had continued on and off over the last four years…the one where he would ask her something and she would reply to it in some sarcastic way with a smile because it was an obvious question or a silly question, and he would just sigh and smile in return and lament that he should have just gone with his instincts and asked her to marry him instead of whatever question he had actually asked… "Just this once I really was going to ask you to marry me, Helga G. Pataki."

He opened the little box. With a little ring inside.

The world locked into an utter state of perfection for Helga G. Pataki.

A journey…two journeys…were finally complete. As one.

(And Arnold spent the next ten minutes of his life going through a dark Tunnel of Love with Helga on top of him just showering him with kiss after kiss after kiss as, upon fully processing his proposal, she had dove at him with all over her might and knocked him backwards right along wit her into a free boat that had suddenly started off on the ride at the force of their landing. As they eventually reached he light at the end of the tunnel, she finally got herself under control enough to say 'Yes, yes, a thousand times YES!' over and over and over again…over and over and over…)

* * *

"Arnold, love!" A lovely young blonde woman in a red, sleeveless dress (wearing a diamond ring on one of her fingers) called from the couch in the boarding house den, surrounded by the glows of a roaring fire and the warmth of greens and reds of decorations. "Could you get me some eggnog, please? I've still got yards and yards of popcorn to string in here!" Smiling, she went back to creating popcorn garland. She had always wanted to make and have that stuff during Christmases as a child but had never found the time to start learning how to do it…So it hadn't been a tradition in her family as a child…But she figured now (_especially_ now, actually) was as good a time as any to start it as a tradition in her family as an adult…as a wife and…

"Here, my darling Helga!" Arnold called out as he entered the room, holding two mugs and wearing a green Christmas tree sweater that went perfectly with his eyes. "Some of the special Shortman recipe family eggnog for _me_…" He placed his own mug down on the coffee table and sat on the other end of the couch upon which his wife was reclined, "And some plain old, 'appropriate for any age and condition' eggnog for _you_…" He handed her the other mug.

Helga placed down her popcorn garland chain on her laps and took the mug. "There's a love. Both your wife and future child thank you, Arnold." She took a sip of the lovely drink, closing her eyes to savor it.

Her eyes quickly popped open in surprise and then happiness at the very familiar feeling of Arnold's hands suddenly framing the small bulge of her stomach. "Hi there, little boy or girl...We can't wait until next Christmas when you're finally with us…and then Mommy can drink grown up person eggnog again."

Helga chuckled at his actions (and at how warm and ticklish his hands felt on her like that). "Arnold, quit doing that—it always makes the little tyke—"

Helga's breath caught in her throat and Arnold (his hand now on the center of Helga's stomach) just beamed like crazy. "He gave a kick!"

"OR _SHE_!" added Helga with a smirk. "Heh, actually, if she's already practicing to 'kick' your butt and drive you nuts then most DEFINITELY a _she_!" She stuck her tongue out at her husband playfully.

Arnold just rolled his eyes, and then moved forward to cuddle with his wife a little on the couch amidst the glow of Christmas all around them…and the glow of Helga herself…pregnant with his child. "Well, all I can hope then is that, on top of wanting to drive me nuts, she's as breathtakingly beautiful and secretly warm and sweet as her Mommy."

Helga blushed and cuddled against Arnold…savoring the warmth of his sweater upon her, his nearness and closeness…the fact that their whole new family was right here on this little couch in this familiar room…in this love-filled place that was their home. "Such a charmer, Football Head, aren't you? If you're trying to get lucky or something, Arnold, I…think the slowly developing child inside of me is a sign that you've already been there, done that." She gave him a playful wink and a nudge.

Arnold just laughed, tracing his finger over the little bulge in her dress as he gave it a quick glance again. "Ooo Mommy sounds cranky, little baby. Well, the cookies'll be done soon. We'll just give her some of those and she'll be all better between that and her eggnog….and of course _you_ being almost here brings both of us tons of joy." He placed his palm gently against the baby again. "Plus all of Mommy and Daddy's friends are stopping by later tonight for a little reunion and to say hello to you…and so Mommy can help Auntie Phoebe keep planning her wedding with Uncle Gerald so they can finally be just as happy as Daddy and Mommy…and so _you_ can maybe get a new playmate soon…" He chuckled a little and Helga joined him. Arnold went on, still smiling, still looking to the baby. "And in only a few minutes Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella are coming over…and even Grandpa Bob And Grandma Miriam…your Aunt Olga and Uncle Tucker…your two cousins, Tuck and Tina..." Arnold let the list hang…and his face fell a tiny bit.

Helga knew…and reached out and placed her hand on top of his on her stomach, looking at him sincerely. "I know, Arnold…" came her quiet voice…and she felt the tears behind her eyes…and behind her own. It had happened only a few months after the wedding…and it had been very hard on everyone… "I miss them too…They raised you for almost half your life…They took care of me when you were gone…They gave us the boarding house to live in and raise our children in. I wish they were here more than anything…for Christmas…and to see our baby too."

Arnold swallowed…and wiped a tear from his eye…and then looked to her with a smile. She always had been able to comfort him…even in the worst of times. She'd comforted him in the jungle all those years ago when he had all but given up hope on finding his parents…after the jungle when he'd had to leave her…over the years with the pictures she would send and just by existing somewhere in the world…and then everyday of their lives in everything he could possibly ask for after his return…and especially with the deaths of Phil and Gertie. Phil had been right—the family curse of 91. And Gertie had followed within weeks…They were just that close, that a part of each other. It could never have been just 'his time' or 'her time'…it had somehow always been destined to be 'their time' when the time did arise. And secretly, at the back of his mind, Arnold had this feeling…that it would be same for himself and Helga...having it be 'their time'. Still, that guaranteed him almost seventy years now with his love…and after seven years of denial as children…and another seven years of transition as teenagers…he would be grateful for and cherish every single moment…especially this one, this night, right here and now. "Thanks, Helga…" This first Christmas with their love and lives complete. "I wish they were her too." Arnold's smile returned just a little, and he wiped a warm tear or two more from his face.

Helga, smiling so supportively so warmly so beautifully, leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her husband in a tight hug. Arnold's arms quickly came up to hug her back (making sure not to put too much pressure upon the unborn child between them.)

The two of them remained holding each other like that for a little while.

Eventually the doorbell rang.

The husband and wife let out breaths and let go of one another…and they didn't need to say anything…They just smiled.

Then Arnold let out a small sigh and his smile brightened. He stood up from the couch and squeezed Helga's hand. "I'll get it. You and the baby just stay put!" He winked and gave a little chuckle. No sense living in the past right now. They had all mourned…Now it was time to celebrate the happy present…and the even happier future to come.

Helga chuckled and rolled her eyes (happy her love was happy once again). "No, Arnold, I was planning to leave my uterus here on the couch to finish the popcorn garland, and to take the rest of myself for a quick jog up Vine Street!"

Arnold laughed as he headed toward the hall. He turned back to her though before disappearing from sight to get the door. "Oh and wrap that blanket around you before I open the door, please, Helga, dear! I don't want either one of my two lovelies getting cold." He winked.

Helga smirked…and let out an 'exasperated' sigh but indeed, of course, pulled the warm, plaid blanket she was laying upon around her shoulders, making sure to cover her stomach. "Of course, my overprotective husband…silly big lug of a future dad that you are." Ever since the first leaf had turned from green to gold and orange in Hillwood, Arnold had been insisting that Helga wrap herself up like this whenever he opened the door or a window for something…and he'd been practically trying to wrap her in every wooly garment he could find whenever she or they actually went outside. And though the whole thing was a little much…it really was adorable and sweet when you thought about it. '_Heh, I can't imagine what he'll do to __you__ when you're born, little one…' _She rubbed the bulge over her stomach. "But seriously," she went on, looking to her husband once more and now wrapped up all cozy and snug, "I cannot wait for that San Lorenzo trip you promised me after the New Year. The last one we'll be taking for a while, I guess, considering my 'condition.'" She made air quotes around the word and smiled. "You and me and the whole family crashing at that summer home your parents built down there…" Yes, no more separation and separate trips: from now on, if one person made any major trips as much of the whole family as possible did too…though there was still privacy to be had in their little jungle escape, of course, if desired. "Heh, come to think of it, I haven't been there since summer after our sophomore year at college…You remember, Arnold dear, just the two of us during that week that your parents were off down the coast searching for new flower specimens…" A little blush came to her face and a gleam came to her eye.

Still standing at the entrance to the hall, Arnold blushed a little as well. "Yes, Helga, I remember…a lot…" He grinned. "But not in front of our baby!" he teased and then gave her a wink. "Now, just keep that wrapped around you while the door's open. Just for your big lug's peace of mind, okay?" He slipped into the hall and the doorbell rang once more.

"_Yes siree!"_ Helga called out from the couch as he disappeared, making a big show of bundling herself up even more. "We'll be visiting somewhere toasty warm for a couple of weeks away from all this city snow! And no more being obsessively blanketed by you for me!" She smirked to herself.

Her husband's faint laugh from down the hall reached her ears. "Whatever you say, Helga! I do plan to sunscreen you to death while we're there, though—just being a good husband and father!"

Helga just chuckled and rolled her eyes…and rubbed and held her stomach. "What a silly football headed daddy you have, little one…And he loves us so very much." She let out a content sigh...and her smile grew a little more. "Hey, maybe we should have you be a little 'Phil' or 'Gertie' when you're born? I know Daddy would love that and I would love it, come to think of it..." She giggled and gave the bulge a small pat, lowering her voice to a whisper. "We'll just keep that our little secret for now, though...We can surprise Daddy with the idea later..."

A few seconds later, Helga could hear the front door of the boarding house being opened and familiar voices entering the hallway, talking and laughing and greeting one another. Both her and Arnold's families coming together to celebrate Christmas (and Helga and Arnold's soon to be coming baby, as they had been doing here and there over the last four months)…all warm and content and loving.

Helga let out a happy sigh and glanced down to see her wedding ring-wearing hand resting upon the lovely rounded area of her tummy…the area that would, by this summer, be her and Arnold's child…their first child. She was hoping for many more…and he wanted more too.

For a moment Helga just closed her eyes and let out a sigh and took in the scent of the cookies and eggnog and evergreen in the air, felt the warmth of the fire crackling and the toasty blanket over her shoulders, heard the sounds of voices of people she loved coming closer…felt her baby kick a little again.

A tear or two fell down her face.

That first Christmas when she and Arnold had been a couple…when they were ten…There had been new hope there but there had also been so much pain and frustration…so much…sadness…to come until they could be really happy again…really be together.

_Now_, _here_, though…they were happy…and there was just more happiness to look forward to. The worst was over and weathered and gotten through and they had earned…a life together…a life that worked and was balanced and was mutual…a life that thrived and flourished…just like the new little life inside of Helga.

"Helga, sweetheart, we have guests!" Arnold called out playfully, his voice sounding like it was getting nearer again as he obviously led the families down the hall to the den.

Helga opened her eyes and wiped the tear or two away. "Yeah, I guessed that from all the voices, love!" she called back playfully and picked up her popcorn garland to continue stringing.

Eventually the party found it's way to Helga and there were hugs and kisses and smiles and jokes and mistletoe and cookies and music and carols and presents and all the love there could be.

And no one needed to 'be strong' anymore or to 'hold out' or to 'bide their time'… They were all finally free and home and safe…and loved.

And Helga G. Pataki…Helga G. Pataki-Shortman…along with her Arnold Pataki-Shortman…and their little Pataki-Shortman to come…finally had the Christmas that she…and she and Arnold…and she and Arnold and the soon-to-be-newest member of their family had always deserved.

(And now both Arnold and Helga would get to learn how to live for themselves and live for each other…and live for their child, all at the same time. A whole new little adventure. Together.)

Merry Christmas, everyone.

* * *

**A/N:**

I hope you all liked this little ending ^_^ Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone! I love all you guys! This is really one of the most wonderful fandoms out there ;) And I feel so lucky to be a part of it :)

Happy Reading! Happy Holidays!

~Azure129 aka Jenna

AXH FOREVER!


	5. Helga PatakiShortman's Christmas

**A/N:**

I know, I know, I know… XD

_Me at Christmas last year…and the year before that… and the year before that… : _

"_Alright, guys, this is my last little sequel chapter to this story 8D I hope you all enjoy it!" *Marks story as 'complete' under story options.*_

But, eh, you're all getting one last one from me this Christmas and I hope you all enjoy it XDXD ;P This really will be the last little sequel to this story though ^w^ And no, it's not like when I've said it in the past or like when I do a one shot and swear there won't be an epilogue…and two weeks later there's an epilogue…or two XD Because really anything more than this last little chapter would probably just really get tedious, you know? XD Anyway though, this is short but I hope you all enjoy it :) Please review and have safe and wonderful holidays! I love you all!

**HELGA PATAKI'S CHRISTMAS**

**Epilogue 3:**

**Helga Pataki-Shortman's Christmas**

* * *

"…_But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight, Merry Christmas to all…and to all a good night…_And it's going to be 'good night' to _you_ soon too, little Miss—you must be tired from the party at Uncle Gerald and Aunt Phoebe's house, after all…And also, remember, Santa can't come until you're asleep. And I hear tell you were so good this year that he's thinking of getting you a little stuffed piglet to make up for you not getting that little pet piglet you had your eye on when we visited Grandpa and Grandma down in San Lorenzo…"

"Ahhh!"

A familiar blond woman decked in a familiar red holiday dress and with part of her long, wavy, sunshine hair pulled back with two green Christmas pins, paused in her stringing of popcorn garland and smiled down at her little 'story time' listener's gasp of wonder and joy at this prospect. Oh the dear thing was only three but still the older woman hoped the little love would remember this Christmas…and it wasn't too farfetched to suppose she might—after all, children had been known to have memories from the time they were three before…and especially in this family.

Helga G. Shortman-Pataki chuckled warmly and put aside the garland and the "Twas the Night Before Christmas" book and reached out to play gently with a tendril of her daughter's long hair. "_However_…I _suppose_ we could have one more Christmas story before hitting the hay if you'd really like it…Besides, Daddy's still in the kitchen making the last batch of Christmas Eve hot cocoa for the night and it would be a shame to let a mug of that go to waste, right, Trudy?" She winked down at the little girl on the floor.

The little girl, with tresses of dark blond hair and eyes of deep blue and a head slightly 'oval-esque' and wearing a little dark green velvet dress with a spring of holly stuck in her hair…and a nice pink ribbon tied at the top of her pretty head…giggled happily and clapped her hands in anticipation. "Yes, yes! Oh, Mommy…pwease tell me a sto-wy about how you and Daddy met again! Pwease! I like those sto-wies, you make Daddy sound so funny in them! And I wike how you sound too!" She clung to the arm of her mother's rocking chair and looked up at her with big, hopeful eyes.

Helga's smile grew and she laughed a little more, unable to help herself. "Alright, alright…" she nodded, "I like that story too, anyway…" She leaned in close and whispered loudly with a smile, "And, hey, let's start before Daddy comes in and makes me leave out all the parts about how extra silly he was sometimes trying to pretend he didn't want to marry Mommy right from the day we met when we were your age." She winked down at Trudy (short for Gertrude, of course).

Trudy giggled more and nodded, whispering loudly back, "Yes, pwease! I like when Daddy's siwwy! Of course Daddy and Mommy had to get married! They wuv each other…They wuv each other and Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella, and Poppy Bob and Grammy Miriam, and also Auntie Mitzie who visits sometimes, and also Grandpa Phil and Grandma Gertie even though we only have a picture of them…" The little girl gestured with her head over to the mantle above the fireplace which indeed held many photos of Gertie and Phil from youth through to the ripe old ages of 91.

Helga nodded at all of that, looking down lovingly at her little girl…She could just look at her for hours sometimes, especially while she slept—she was a perfect…not so much 'mix' as 'meeting' of herself and Arnold…She was her own person and yet had all the good parts of the two of them, each shining through and blossoming more and more as she grew…Helga loved her so much…She smiled more to her. "Yes, that's all very true, we all love each other very much…Oh but you're forgetting someone else we all love…and one of the most important ones too…" Helga tapped her nose, causing the girl to giggle, and Helga giggled in return—they both knew this little game (that had stemmed from the streak of Arnold's selflessness in Trudy that had led her from the beginning to be too modest to include herself directly in the familial circle of love, or at least not until the very end…) "Now, who could it be?" Helga asked playfully.

Trudy smiled more and even blushed a little, putting her arms shyly behind her back. "I-I don't know…"

"I think you _do_…" Helga prompted, smiling more and more.

Trudy giggled more and shook her head, her tresses flying this way and that. "No, I don't!"

"Oh yes you do! Come on, what are you, chopped liver or something?" And then with a laugh Helga was suddenly kneeling on the floor and tickling Trudy's tummy all over.

Little squeals and giggles of joy escaped Trudy. "Okay, okay, it's me! Ev-wy one wuvs _me_ too! They all wuv T-Twudy! I-I mean…T…roo…dee…" The little girl tried, still working on her R's. She looked to her mother for approval.

Helga laughed more and her tickles ceased. "Yes, that's very true…" She gave her a little kiss on the forehead, and then pulled back and looked down at her lovingly. "And very good job with the R, my little love. You keep trying and you'll get it for sure." She winked down at her encouragingly.

"Oh but I like that she says it 'Twudy'," a man's charming and familiar voice suddenly interrupted. "Please don't encourage her too much to fix it, darling—how many years of that little lisp are we going to have left before she's our big grown up girl?"

And suddenly a tray of hot cocoa had been put down on the coffee table and the little girl was scooped up from the ground as Arnold got her into his arms and looked at her with a smile. "You want to be Daddy's little girl forever, don't you, 'Twudy'?" he asked playfully, tapping her nose (once again as a start to a familiar family game—for if Trudy had inherited Arnold's modesty she had also definitely inherited Helga's independence.)

To her father's question, Trudy giggled and blushed but shook her pretty, gold-covered head again. "Nope, I'm gonna be Daddy's wittle girl for now but then one day I'll be big like Mommy and have adventures! And I'll meet a nice boy like Daddy and then I can be a Mommy too…and maybe also a astronaut…and a pwincess…and pwesident! Right, Mommy?" The little girl looked to Helga with a knowing and eager smile.

Helga laughed and stood up from the floor, putting her hands on her hips and smirking back at her daughter. "You've got it, my little love. Whatever floats your boat!" she granted her with a touch of pride on her voice.

Trudy smiled proudly in her Father's arms, crossing her own little arms over her chest and looking to her Daddy for approval now.

Arnold just sighed and looked down at her with a smile and then looked to Helga with a little smirk of his own. "If she starts rappelling down the side of this boarding house to go meet the bus for school in the mornings when she starts at P.S. 118, I'm blaming you for it."

Helga laughed and rolled her eyes, walking over to the coffee table to grab a mug of cocoa and thing sitting herself back in her rocker. "Hey, hey, now you know I don't want her doing that…until at least junior high. It'll take me all of elementary school to teach her how to do it safely and properly after all." She winked at her husband.

Arnold just rolled his eyes back at her. "Whatever you say, dear." He walked over to the couch, bringing Trudy with him, and then sat down in the middle and put Trudy on the end closest to Helga's rocker. He reached out and took the last two mugs of cocoa off the tray (one only half full, in case of spills) and gave the smaller one to Trudy and kept the larger one for himself. He sipped and looked to his wife and daughter. "So, what were my two favorite girls up to in here just now? I heard lots of giggling…Planning a special Christmas present for Daddy for tomorrow morning?" He raised his eyebrows, looking at Helga and Trudy with interest.

Helga and Trudy looked to each other and giggled and then looked back to Arnold. Helga took a big swig of cocoa and spoke for them both. "Nope! Nice try though, bucko! Actually we were just about to tell one more story before a certain someone has to go to bed so that Santa can come." She winked at Arnold.

Arnold smiled more and winked back at her. "Oh yes…it really bust be bedtime soon for our little Miss…Oh but what story were you going to tell? The Night Before Christmas?" Arnold looked to Trudy.

Helga and Trudy looked to each other again and then put hands to their mouths, sharing a secret little giggle once more. Helga shook her head and looked back to Arnold. "Nope, we just finished telling that one…"

"Oh," Arnold shrugged, still smiling (and seeming totally oblivious about a little private joke going on right now between the girls…Not _all_ the denseness could go away, no matter how much time passed, after all…) "Rudolph?" he guessed next.

Helga and Trudy giggled more and Helga shook her head again. "Nope! Try again, my darling."

Arnold smiled a little more, finally starting to pick up on the fact that something might just be going on here... "Hmm…Frosty the Snowman?"

"_Eeeeh_!" Helga made a buzzer sound, putting down her hot chocolate and crossing her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "And that's strike three, Football Head Daddy!"

"Mommy was gonna tell one of the sto-wies of how you fell in wuv!" Trudy suddenly couldn't help bursting out, putting down her cocoa with her Mommy's and looking to her Daddy with a big smile and shining eyes! "I like the sto-wy, Daddy! Will you tell it with her? I wike that a lot! You two are always funny when you tell it together!" She giggled and clapped her hands together, looking back and forth from Daddy to Mommy.

Helga sighed and looked to her husband with a smile and a little shrug. "Eh, what do you say, 'Daddy'…Will you help me tell her? Come on…you know you like those stories too." She chuckled a little at him.

Arnold smiled a little more at her and nodded and chuckled a little himself. "Well, of course I'll help you, 'Mommy'. Who am I to deny the request of the most ravishing woman in the world…" he winked at Helga and then turned his gaze down to Trudy… "…or the request of the prettiest little girl in the whole world?" He reached out and moved a curl of her hair behind her ear. He loved that hair she had—it was like Helga's but more his color…He couldn't have imagined a more beautiful child for himself and his love…

The little girl blushed and smiled more at her Daddy's words. "Thank you, Daddy!" She looked to her mother. "And thank you, Mommy, for telling the sto-wy with him!" she smiled at her too.

Helga, blushing a tiny bit from Arnold's little compliment to her (so many years and still a few simple words from him could melt her like a roaring fire melted snow …), sighed and picked up her cocoa again, taking another sip. "You're welcome, sweetheart…And, Arnold, quit kissing up—you know I 'hate' that." She laughed some and so did he, and then Helga sighed and turned to her daughter with a smile again, resting her head on one of her hands with her elbow propped on the arm of her rocker. "So, then, my Trudy…any particular piece of the story of our courtship that you'd like us to tell? I don't think we'd have time to go through the _entire_ multi-year thing right now, at least not unless we're planning to postpone Santa's visit until the next time around _next_ Christmas…" She chuckled a little.

Trudy smiled more at her Mommy, reaching out and taking her hot cocoa mug in two hands again and sipping from it carefully (so as not to spill on her new party dress that her Mommy had sewn for her as an early Christmas present, and that she had done such a good job of keeping clean when at Uncle Gerald and Aunt Phoebe's house earlier) before replying, "The Christmas one, Mommy…The one when you and Daddy were first in wuv together when you were big kids and you went to the building where you first _kissed_…" she giggled at the word, "And Daddy had to go visit Grandpa Miles and Granma Stella for a while the next day but you wuved each other lots so you knew Daddy would come back soon even if he had to go for a wittle while. I wike that one…It's wo…r-r-ro-ma-n-tic!" She smiled proudly at using the big word AND pronouncing the R correctly!

Helga and Arnold had to shard a warm laugh together at her cuteness, unable to help it. "Alright, alright…" Helga replied to Trudy, and then she looked to Arnold, "I tell a segment, then you tell a segment, like usual? That way we get somewhere near the truth and I don't get to fill the story with you blushing and being shy and you don't get to eliminate all the little kisses from the story like she's too young to hear them or something." She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Arnold, she's a Pataki…and _my_ daughter…I was making plans to marry you and have babies when I was her age."

Arnold smirked a tiny bit and shrugged, letting out a sigh, and he couldn't help blushing a tiny bit as well. "Whatever floats your boat, Helga."

Helga chuckled. "Oh ha ha, very funny. Anyway let's start—ladies first, since your father always has been Mr. Chivalrous." Helga cleared her throat, smiling proudly, and she then leaned down toward her daughter, commencing the story in a dramatic fashion for the wide-eyed little girl. "Well, it all started with, well…with Mommy being the silly one for once and trying not to see Daddy on Christmas because she was afraid she'd miss him too much…So then silly Mommy went to that building where she and Daddy had kissed...though little did she know that Daddy would find her soon there…"

Arnold nodded, adding a few sentences now, and leaning closer to Trudy as well. "Yes…and meanwhile Daddy was home here at the boarding house having a nice party with all of his friends including Uncle Gerald and Aunt Phoebe, and Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella and also Grandpa Phil and Grandma Gertie…but he was still missing Mommy like crazy…"

The little girl giggled, taking a bit gulp of hot cocoa and looking eagerly and intently to Mommy and Daddy again, loving this story so much…

* * *

Later, the story had been told…and a certain little someone had been put into her pajamas and had her teeth brushed and hair combed and face and hands washed and was tucked away in her pretty bed in her pink and blue room up in the attic.

And now Arnold and Helga were sitting down to some eggnog on the couch together after having wrapped a lot of presents.

"You know, Arnold…she's really going to be surprised when your parents pop in at 7am tomorrow from San Lorenzo for a surprise visit…and actually bring her that little piglet she's been wanting ever since she started seeing pictures of Abner." Helga smiled at Arnold.

Arnold smiled back at her and nodded. "I know…Her 'famous, traveling' grandparents and a little pet…She'll love it."

Helga nodded, taking another swig of eggnog. "Absolutely…." She sighed and gazed at the tree and all the presents and the glowing fire…Arnold was looking around and taking in things too.

Arnold reached out his hand on the couch. Helga reached out hers too. They held hands together.

"Hey…Arnold?" Helga started quietly with a smile.

Arnold nodded. "Yes, Helga?"

She looked to him. "When do you think we should…give her that little brother she's mentioned wanting too?" The question could have been asked with a lot of suggestion, which wouldn't have been atypical for Helga G. Pataki-Shortman…and yet this time around it was asked with almost pure sincerity…and it was something they had both been thinking about for a while. They hadn't discussed it too much directly but…somehow both of them knew it was getting to be on their minds more and more…

Arnold smiled more at Helga's question (and blushed a little—he never had been able to help it, even though her tone with the inquiry had been more 'nice' than 'naughty'). "Well…I don't know…are you ready yet?" He spoke with sincerity as well.

Helga smiled more at him, just a touch of something playful coming to her tone and eyes. "Are _you_?" she countered.

Arnold sighed, considering, the smile still upon his face. "Well…we certainly have enough rooms here for more than one child…"

Helga chuckled at that.

Arnold went on…. "…_And_ you've been publishing short stories in magazines pretty regularly…and your branch of the beeper emporium's been doing well…_And_ we've got a few tenants here and I'm a fifty percent partner of Mickey's Dog Pound now and it's been doing really well, so…we've got enough money for more than one child…"

Helga nodded, in full agreement.

"…And well…I _do_ miss having a little baby around the house…" Arnold smiled warmly at Helga, putting down his eggnog.

Helga smiled warmly back, nodding and putting down her eggnog as well. "I agree…with all of it. And also I…I want another one, Arnold…and it feels right now...and, well…I'm with Trudy…" She moved closer to Arnold and leaned against him, "I wouldn't mind a little football headed boy running around here either…just like there used to be so many years ago…" She laughed a little at the memories.

Arnold laughed too and leaned more against her as well. "I understand, Helga…I…I feel that way too. The time feels right… Okay then…we'll try…" He nodded, squeezing her hand a little.

"Hmm…wanna head to our room and 'try' _right now_?" Helga added with a little hand squeeze of her own, not missing a beat, that flirtatious streak of hers coming through again in their lives.

Her ears were just met with Arnold sighing good-naturedly and she felt him shake his head a bit near her own. "Very cute, Helga…"

Helga giggled and shrugged. "I thought so…"

They sat in peaceful silence for a few moments longer.

Then…

"Hey…Football Head?"

"Yes, Helga?"

"I…love you…so much…"

Her voice came out softly and sweetly and she clung to him a little for just a moment. Glancing down to her face, Arnold could see she was still smiling…though her eyes were shut a little tightly and with the slight grip she had on him it couldn't help but remind him of when they had been little and sometimes things about her childhood…loneliness and sadness…would catch up to her and make her just hug him so tightly all of a sudden…like she was afraid he would disappear or turn out not to be real or that he would suddenly hate her…and she just wanted to cling to him to keep him from leaving her all alone…

He knew what to do for her when she was like that. He hugged her back softly and smiled and closed his eyes too. He stroked a hand tenderly, lovingly, soothingly through her hair. "I know…and I love you too, Helga…forever….You're such a wonderful wife…and a wonderful mother…And we'll be together forever."

Helga sighed and her grip on him and the look on her face relaxed just a little. She even opened her eyes a bit. "Thanks, Arnold…" she said back to him softly, appreciatively, placing her palm against his chest over his heart to feel it beating.

Arnold nodded. "You're welcome, Helga…" He reached under her chin with his free hand and tilted it up just slightly.

Both looked into each other's eyes…

"Merry Christmas, Helga…"

"Merry Christmas, Arnold…"

And then Arnold and Helga closed their eyes and came together and shared a deep, soft kiss of love…

When their kiss ended they pulled back from one another and just snuggled more into their embrace and turned back to admire the lovely Christmas around them, finishing their eggnog and just…melting in the love and warmth and happiness and promise of the holiday.

Eventually, the clock tolled a rather late hour and Helga yawned and glanced to her beloved with sleepy eyes. She sighed. "Okay, Arnold…we can…" another yawn escaped her… "…w-we can go to bed now…It's so late…and you know she'll be up by 5 looking for presents from Santa…" Helga chuckled a little at the idea.

Arnold smiled more to her and just couldn't help himself. "Oh, but…I thought you wanted to start trying to have another baby tonight?" He sighed dramatically, smiling so much. "Oh well…there's always next Chri—Whoa!"

He was stopped in mid-sentence by Helga standing up from the couch and grabbing his collar and pulling their faces close with a smirk. " 'Very cute', Arnold…" she mocked a little. "Now, let's get to bed before 'Santa' shows up…we only have a few hours until dawn anyway." She winked at him.

A darker blush came to Arnold's cheeks…but this time rather than shyness there was a touch of that spark of daring and boldness buried deep within him that came to his eyes and voice. "Race you…?" he challenged playfully.

Helga blinked…and then smirked. "You're on!" She released his collar and straightened up and he stood up from the couch. They faced the stairs. "Ready…?" She looked at him with a grin.

"Set…?" Arnold looked to her with a grin as well.

"GO!" they both yelled in unison! And then instantly they were bolting up the stairs together and trying to 'trip' each other and even tickle each other to try and gain a lead, and they were laughing hysterically the whole time (though still trying to keep as quiet as possible so as not to wake a certain slumberer) all the way to their bedroom.

But I heard them exclaim, 'ere they ascended above

Merry Christmas to all…and to all…a true love.

Have happy, safe, and wonderful holidays, everyone…And love each other…and all will be well.

Thank you.

* * *

**A/N:**

And thus this fic is finally over! Seriously, I mean it this time XDXD And really what else could I write for it anyway? Christmas time in San Lorenzo with the… *Deep sigh* w Alright, you know what, I'll _try_ very hard to have no more annual sequels to this because I don't want it to get boring, so this should in theory be the final update. But if next year brings a new idea to me and I think you guys might really like it, then I'll add it, okay? ;) Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed this! Please review!

And have the happiest, safest, and loveliest of holidays, everyone. And to my friends new and old, here and not here, I wish you well with all of my heart.

And as always…

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna


	6. Christmas and Love

**A/N:**

Yeah, I'm finally gonna just admit that I have no idea when I'll stop doing Christmas updates with this fic XD Anyway, how's it going everyone? :) If you don't celebrate Christmas this time of year then I hope you've had or are having or will be having a happy holiday! And if you do celebrate Christmas then MERRY CHRISTMAS 8D Anyway, I had this little idea, I wrote it out to see if it worked, and I like it so I decided to post this ^w^ I hope you all enjoy this!

**HELGA PATAKI'S CHRISTMAS**

**Epilogue 4:**

**Christmas and Love**

* * *

"Mommy-Helga?" asked a soft, young voice coming from the mouth of a lovely little girl. She was wearing warm, pale blue winter coat and red snow boots and a pink scarf and mittens. She didn't have her pale blue winter hat on just yet, but her long, slightly curled, rich blond hair was pinned up at the sides with barrettes to keep it out of her deep blue eyes which looked up with attention and interest at her mother from her place seated on the bottom step of the boarding house stairs…while beside her sat a little spotted pink pig with a Santa hat on her head who the girl was petting absentmindedly.

Helga G. Pataki-Shortman sighed but smiled nonetheless. Having been about to go to the kitchen to start on a final batch of Christmas cookies (though her domestic gene had never reached 'Olga' capacity she did like baking every now and again, especially this time of year, though she was more into creating her own recipes than copying gourmet ones like her sister), Helga paused in her journey, straightened out her red and pink holiday dress a little, then crossed her arms and looked down at her daughter with a smile. "Trudy, how long is this phase going to keep up of calling me 'Mommy-Helga'?" Her grin picked up on one side. "Or, if it's going to be for a while, can't you at least call Daddy 'Daddy-Arnold' too?"

Trudy blinked at her mother's suggestion and shrugged. "But, Daddy always calls his parents 'Mom' and 'Dad' so of course he's Daddy to me, but you call Grammy Miriam and Poppy Bob 'Miriam' and 'Bob' sometimes…so I figured I should kind of call you something like that too." Trudy's smile brightened.

And of course Helga couldn't get angry at her. She really wasn't doing this to try and get under her skin, the little girl was just trying out something new and genuinely trying to please her mother by addressing her in the same way Helga addressed her parents (the first names thing turning out to be an unbreakable habit, at least now and again, even today for Helga). And so Helga just sighed and shook her head and smiled more and then shrugged. "Alright, why not?" '_Eh, it's not like there's any hope anyway of winning a fight against Pataki stubbornness, and there never was any person who could plow through that Shortman genuine innocence and desire to explore new things. Better off letting her just get it out of her system…And I probably deserve it a little after all the years of 'Bob' and 'Miriam' even when they were acting better_.' "Anyway, sport, what's on your mind?" Helga smiled and kneeled down to be at her daughter's eye level. "Got a last minute request from Santa for you? Or for Amber here?" She gave the cute young pig a scratch under the chin which made it smile and give a happy snort.

Trudy shook her head and sighed, a little frown suddenly coming to replace her optimistic smile. "No. I just…" Her cute little mouth quirked to the side and she rested her chin on both of her hands and she seemed trying to find the words.

Helga's smile changed to a look of deep interest and she moved to sit down beside her daughter in the little bit of free space left upon the step. "Yes, my little love…?"

Suddenly a new character (or two rather) entered the scene. "Oh there are our two favorite girls!" a familiar football headed man in a red and green Christmas sweater suddenly announced (and he had a little someone in his arms). "Robert Phillip and I were just getting him changed and then all settled in his snow suit so that we can go sledding later. Isn't that right?" Arnold tapped the little boy's nose. He was almost two now, growing big and strong, even saying a few words already. He had hair such a dark gold it was more of a rich brown and no football-ish head to speak of but a strong chin, the combination of Phil and Miles and even Bob's strong chins without question. His eyes were a rich green, and the green little snowsuit he had on complimented them well.

Robert Phillip laughed. "Daddy!" He hugged his father tightly, snuggling up under Arnold's own small chin. Then he looked at the stairs and pointed. "Mommy! Trudy! Amber!"

"Yes, that's right, Mommy and Trudy and Amber the piggy." Arnold gave him a little hug back and then looked back to the two girls. "And what are you two up to? All ready to bake cookies for Santa?" He looked at them with interest.

Helga smiled up at her husband and son and then stood up. "Hello, my love…and my _littlest_ love…" She played with the little one's hair and admired his eyes as she spoke to her husband. "Yup, we were just going to head into the kitchen to start in on a new recipe. For right now though we were just talking." She adjusted the collar of the baby's snowsuit and then kissed his cheek and then looked back to her beloved.

Arnold smiled with interest. "Oh talking, huh?" He laughed. "Well, you know that's my specialty. About what?" He looked from Helga to Trudy and back.

"Oh…yeah, Trudy, I'm sorry, darling, what did you want to talk about?" Helga turned back to her daughter, giving her her full attention again. Anything that was on her mind and bothering her, her parents of course wanted to know.

They waited for what Trudy would normally do, which was to tell the entire truth about how she was feeling (just like her father always had) and to express all of those feelings with as much detail and drawing upon as many emotions as possible (just as her mother always had).

However, instead, for the first time in her life the little girl looked with wide eyes from her mother to her father and back to her mother, and then her cheeks flushed with a little rosy pink color, and then she wrapped her arms around her knees and shrugged, looking down. "Um…nothing. It's okay." She looked from her father to her mother again, and her gaze stayed on her mother.

Arnold blinked and a familiar look of (dense) confusion came upon his face as he looked to his daughter. "Oh…o…kay?" He looked to his wife for assistance.

Helga was watching Trudy intently at the moment though. Her ears processed Arnold's address of her and she snapped out of it soon enough and looked to her husband. "Um…Arnold, darling, perhaps you could take Little Phil into the kitchen and, um…make sure the Christmas cookie plates are all clean? That would really help Trudy and me." She smiled brightly, all but winking at him to let him know to just go along with what she was saying.

Arnold blinked at first though, shifting the baby to his other arm. "But didn't those plates go through the dishwasher last night and already get all cle—oh! Oh, um…" it had clicked, that the point wasn't about the plates-it could still take him a while sometimes but he almost always got things eventually now, "…yes, of course, I'll make sure the plates are clean." He smiled as well. "Come on, Robert Phillip," he looked lovingly to the baby, "…let's go see about those plates." He turned and proceeded toward the kitchen.

Helga let out a little sigh of relief and smiled in her husband's direction. "Thank you, boys! We'll be in to help make the cookies in a second!" She waved to them and then waited until they were out of sight in the kitchen.

Then she turned right around to her (still blushing) daughter, crossed her arms over her chest and grinned, and then sat right back down on the step beside her. "Alright, spill, Trudy. What's up? And I'm guessing it's juicy if you don't want to tell Daddy, little Miss Daddy's Girl." She gave her daughter a playful little nudge.

Trudy blushed more but couldn't help cracking a little smile again at her mother's joke. "Mommy-Helga…" She sighed and looked up at her mother. "It's…It's about boys…Daddy wouldn't understand. He just sees me as his little Trudy." She sighed again, rocking a little on the heels of her cute little Nancy Spumoni second edition snow boots (courtesy last year of an old friend of the family, Dino Spumoni).

Helga blinked and then almost beamed, though she tried to keep herself from getting too gushy. "Ohh, I see, a boy, huh?" Helga sighed and nodded. "Yes, it has been a while since your father was one of those. And when he was one he wasn't exactly an expert on them or girls anyway." Helga smiled and leaned in a little closer, trying not to crowd her daughter but feeling very eager about all of this nonetheless. "So, which little fella's in your crosshairs, huh? Uncle Gerald and Aunt Phoebe's little boy Keni is a couple of years younger than you, but I could understand if you liked him…Oh and then there's Rhonda and Curly's son, Thaddeus Jr.—he's in your class, right? Oh and then there's Eugene's son, Felix, the one who all you kids say has that lucky streak—he's only a year older than you, right?" Helga decided to stop her suggestions there and to just wait for whatever her daughter wanted to say next. '_Perfect, I suggested a few names, let her know it's alright to bring them up, now just wait for her to tell me who it is. Oh she's always like the idea of falling in love ever since she was little and Arnold and I would tell her stories about how we met and got together. I'm so happy for her!'_

"No, Mommy-Helga, none of them!" Trudy suddenly piped up, blushing more and looking down again, arms wrapped around her knees once more. Frustration was evident in her frown and the look in her eyes. Amber could tell her mistress was distressed and she gave a little sympathetic snort and snuggled up close to Trudy.

Helga blinked and lost the smile and the playful attitude. For Trudy to look at all upset, for her to get any of that Pataki scowl or frustration on her face was a very rare thing and Helga knew when it happened that she needed to take things seriously and to listen up. "Oh…okay, then. Well…why don't you tell me who it is then and what the problem is, alright?" Helga smiled and leaned back on the step behind them a little. "I'm here to help, sweetheart."

A little huff of a sigh escaped Trudy though the frustration left quickly only to be replaced by that little pout of hers again. "It's nobody, Mommy-Helga. That's the problem." She shuffled her feet a little.

Helga blinked. "No one?" She tilted her head to the side a little. "So…what's the problem?"

Trudy looked up at her mother almost in surprise at the question. "That _is_ the problem, just like I said!" She sighed deeply and threw her little arms up in the air. "I'm already six years old and I don't have anybody I can love yet! I don't like any of the boys in any extra special way, I just like being friends with them. Six summers and birthdays and Christmases in a row and no special memory and no special somebody, just like you and Daddy always had even if it took you until you were almost ten to get together." She looked up at her mother with concern. "What's wrong with me, Mom?" The 'Mommy-Helga' thing had slipped away in this time of distress for the little girl.

Helga just looked at her daughter with wide eyes for a moment. This was her problem? _This_? Certainly she had been prepared for Trudy's first little boyfriend but this… "Trudy…there is…there is absolutely nothing wrong with you." She spoke very seriously, looking right into her daughter's eyes. "Not one thing in the entire world."

"But I'm not like you and Daddy! Or like Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Gerald! Or even like Great Grandpa Phil and Great Grandma Gertie were!" She spoke with such sincerity and concern, looking up at her mother in her small plea for assistance. She wasn't overly emotional, she was just expressing herself with the calm flow of passion that was the result of her heritages. "I'm already six and I'm not even close to in love. What if I don't ever find anybody and then I don't get to live here and have a family when I grow up just like how I always wanted?" She was getting more flushed, a touch extra of her mother shining through in the amount of pure emotion she was feeling right now.

Helga just blinked a few more times though and put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Gertrude Geraldine Pataki-Shortman, you listen to me very carefully." She spoke kindly but firmly and clearly. "You don't not have to find someone to be in love with when you are a child, and you certainly don't have to then be alone for the rest of your life or have no family if you don't. And where did you ever get that idea in the first place?"

Trudy shrugged. She snuggled up alongside her mother a little, letting Helga hug her close. "I-I don't know, it's just you and Daddy are so happy and I want to do lots of other things that'll make me happy just like you two do with your poetry writing and Daddy's keeping the boarding house going, but I also want to be happy in love too. You guys always said that your favorite memories were with each other, after all…" She played with Amber's ear a little, that flushed look changing back to the little rosy blush from before.

Helga sighed with a compassionate smile and spoke softly. She stroked her daughter's hair. "Trudy, first of all you do have a family and you always will—me and your father and your brother and Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella and Poppy Bob and Grammy Miriam and Great Grandpa Phil and Great Grandma Gertie and Aunt Mitzie and Aunt Phoebe and Uncle Gerald and Aunt Olga and Uncle Tucker and your cousins Tuck and Tina and even your Uncle Arnie and your new Aunt Lila and their little Adelaide even if we don't get to see them much," ( '_Thankfully! Oh that phlegmy snort…_'), "…though luckily we should at least all get to see each other for Christmas at your Aunt Olga's tomorrow." She smiled compassionately. "But anyway, the point is, Trudy, that you will never be alone and not have a family even if you don't get married and have children right away or ever even. I promise you." She gave her daughter a little one armed hug closer to her.

Trudy, hugging back with one arm and also hugging Amber close with her other arm, seemed to be considering this argument. Finally she blinked a few times and nodded, looking back up at Helga again. "Okay…I understand, Mommy. You're right, we are all a family." She snuggled more against her mother and even smiled a little again. "And I'm a part of it always. I'm Trudy and everyone loves me." She smiled brightly and yawned a little.

Helga smiled more and patted her shoulder. '_Reminds me of Olga—everyone loves me. But it's true and she doesn't milk it so why not?' _"Yes, we all do, whether you're Aunt Trudy or Mommy Trudy or Cousin Trudy or Daughter Trudy or Wife Trudy, you are loved and part of this family. And remember," a touch of something serious came to Helga's tone and she made sure to look into her daughter's eyes, "If you ever do decide to become Wife or Mommy Trudy, always marry because you're in love never because you're afraid of not ever getting married. Alright?"

The statement had been made with some weight behind the tone and Trudy caught that weight and nodded, her gaze never leaving her mother's. "Oh yes, Mom. I know. Love is very important, just like you and Daddy always say."

Helga's smile softened and she nodded down at her daughter. "Yes, it is. It is the most important thing in the world, my little love." She brushed a stray wisp of hair behind Trudy's ear. "And now then about you fearing that you can't have your dream of ending up just like me and Daddy…" she leaned a little closer and smiled more, "…you just give it time. After all, Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella didn't exactly find each other right away but they ended up together in the end and the same goes for Aunt Olga and Uncle Tucker. You are a very lovely and special little girl and I'm sure you'll find someone to care about even if it doesn't happen when you're so very young and even if you have to try out a few different people before you maybe find the right one. And as for the fellas around here, don't you worry, there will be dozens of little boys who will like you even if none do right now, okay?"

Trudy blushed a little then and smiled, putting her hands in her lap and looking down to the side. "Oh Mommy…lots of boys like me…_like_ _me_ like me." She giggled.

Helga blinked, her eyes going wide.

Trudy shrugged and went on, cheeks still rosy and pinkening more as she spoke, though at least this time her blush was accompanied by a happy smile. "Getting boys to like me is definitely not my problem at all. It's just me not _like_ liking any of them. Almost all of them treat me extra nice and blush around me and sometimes they bring me flowers and little presents, especially when it's Valentine Day or my birthday or Christmas. It's very kind of them." She shrugged and sighed. "It just makes me sad to always have to disappoint them all by letting them know I don't feel the same way and that even though I appreciate the attention I don't want them to keep giving it to me if it'll get their hopes up. There are lots of other nice girls who like a lot of them—they should try to pay more attention to those girls instead of me." She looked to her mother with a normal bright and happy smile.

Helga blinked several times now, a sort of a stunned look upon her features. She was quiet for a moment before she finally found her voice again "I…_wow_, um…o-okay then. Heh…" She smiled, looking at her daughter with interest, "You've got things more figured out than I realized. You always were a bright kid, my cutie Trudy. Good job." She tousled her hair a little playfully.

Trudy just giggled at her mother's actions and words and shrugged. "I'm happy you think I'm doing okay—I thought about it a lot and I figured being honest with them all was the best thing to do. I just try to be the best me I can be, just like you and Daddy always say, and to always listen to my heart and do what's right. And thanks, Mommy-Helga…" The crisis had been averted, 'Mommy-Helga' had returned to Trudy's vocabulary, "I feel better now." She stood up and hugged her mother then pulled back with her eyes bright. "Can Amber and I go play out back in the snow and help with cookies later? I wanna try to have as much fun in my snow boots as I can." She sighed and looked down with a little pout at the pretty red boots. "They're already starting to feel too small, by next Christmas I won't be able to wear them at all, and they're my favorite."

Helga smiled, a little gleam in her eyes, and nodded. She stood up and patted her daughter on the head. "Sure thing, kiddo. You zip up that coat though so you don't catch cold, alright? And put on your hat! And then come inside for Christmas cookie baking and hot cocoa." She winked at her.

Trudy giggled and buttoned up her coat with a nod. "Thanks, Mommy-Helga." She looked down at her little pig. "Come on, Amber!" Amber squealed happily and with that the girl and pig dashed to the closet for Trudy's hat and then dashed outside by the back kitchen door.

Helga just watched the two of them go with a smile, arms crossed over her chest. Then she sighed and rubbed her temple, smiled more, and went into the kitchen.

In there she found Robert Phillip in his high chair chewing on a soft gingerbread cookie and Arnold with the freshly cleaned Christmas cookie plates all set out and brewing up some hot cocoa for everyone in a pot on the stove (and he was also preparing a little sippy glass of chocolate milk for the baby).

"Football Head, our daughter is some piece of work…" Helga announced, walking over to the cabinets to start pulling out the flour and sugar and other essential baking ingredients.

Arnold blinked and looked over at her curiously. "What do you mean? And…why didn't she want to talk to me?" He frowned a little. "Is she upset with me for some reason?"

Helga shook her head, now walking over to the fridge for the eggs. "Nope, not at all. Oh and she's really going to be extra not upset with you when she opens those new, bigger Nancy Spumoni snow boots you got Dino to send over for her. She just commented on how she's so sad that her boots are getting small for her already and that she won't be able to use them next year probably."

Arnold smiled at that news, still stirring away at the hot cocoa. "Oh, great! Dino and Nancy'll be happy about that. She'll be all over them when they stop by Olga's tomorrow night to sing Christmas Carols before dinner." But then he blinked and almost frowned a little, looking unsure. "But…okay, so Trudy's not upset with me…but then what is it? Why didn't she want to talk to me too?"

Helga sighed with a grin as she pushed the fridge door shut and walked the eggs over to the counter. "Oh, well, it was about boys and she felt only another woman would understand."

Arnold smiled normally again. "Oh, okay, it was about boys. I understand, Helga."

Helga smirked a little to herself as she got the measuring spoons and cups out of a nearby drawer. '_Three, two, one….'_

"_Boys_!" Arnold dropped the wooden spoon in the pot of hot cocoa on the stove, causing a few drops of the hot liquid to splatter onto his forearm. "Ow!" He winced and grabbed a dishtowel and wiped it off and then looked at Helga with his green eyes wide. "What are you talking about—she's _six_!?"

Helga just shrugged and put her hands on her hips and looked over at her husband. "Hey, what do you want? After all, I was _three_ when I decided to marry you." She smirked again. "And we were only like _ten_ when you were making out with me. She's more than half way there, Arnoldo." She winked at him.

Arnold blushed and looked down with wide eyes. "I…well…that's not the point." He looked back up at Helga, coming over to her. "Wh-What boy exactly?" He was trying to sound calm and failing at it miserably.

Helga was still just casually grinning away though and she reached over to the cabinet above the stove to grab the electric mixer. "Now, Arnold, you know a lady doesn't kiss and tell."

Arnold came right up next to her, rosiness in his features and a touch of worry in his big, sea green eyes. "Helga…" he spoke in that level tone he could have, the 'no more nonsense however cute I usually find it please, Helga' tone… "I-I'm serious. I don't want her taking all of those stories about us and deciding that the first boy who smiles at her she has to do all of that stuff with."

Helga giggled a little, and turned to face him, putting her hands on his shoulders. "Arnold…" she sighed and then kissed his lips sweetly. Then she pulled back a little and looked into his eyes with love, "She is completely fine. She is as emotionally aware as I ever was at her age and as rational and straightforward as you ever were, and more clever than both of us put together. She is perfectly alright, she just had a question. And it just gets a little harder for a girl to ask questions about things like that around her father when she starts to get a little older, alright, my love?"

Arnold looked a lot more relieved now, though there was still a little pout on his mouth. It was more than understandable—after all he remembered hitting a point very early in his life when he had wanted to talk to his grandfather over his grandmother about girls, and his father over his mother later on. "I…alright, Helga." He let out a breath. "Okay, I feel better." He swallowed and a smile managed to find its way to his mouth again. "Um…could I ask what the question was in general? Please?"

Helga sighed, considered, then nodded, removing her hands from his shoulders. "Well, she didn't make me promise not to tell you or anything so I think I can, but you've gotta swear not to talk to her about it unless she comes to you first, okay?"

Arnold nodded, smiling more. "Absolutely."

Helga smiled back at him. "Good. Well, without getting into too many unnecessary details, she was concerned that she's already at the ripe old age of six and hasn't found anyone whom she loves yet like you and I did. She just wanted to be assured that that was alright and that everything would be okay."

Arnold's smile and eyes brightened. "Oh!" He laughed a little. "Helga, why didn't you tell me that? Is that all?" He put his arms around her and kissed her lips and then pulled back with a half lidded gaze and grin. "Oh isn't she sweet, worrying that boy hasn't fallen for her yet."

Helga laughed and sighed. "Oh Arnold…" She shook her head and walked away from him, feeling like setting the old record player in the den to play some Christmas music, "Actually, she's assured me almost all of the boys have come calling to her already, she just hasn't found one she likes in particular." She winked and giggled and pranced out of the room.

Arnold was back to stirring the hot cocoa with a content smile. He laughed to himself again. "All the boys have come…" He blinked and looked back over to the den entrance with wide eyes. "Helga is that a joke?"

"Nope!" she called back to him just as Dino Spumoni's newly released Christmas album started to play. "And can I just say I'm impressed with her—you and I struck out constantly before we finally got together and she's got her pick of 'em. That's fine work, Football Head—let's hope your son has that knack and doesn't inherit your capacity to pick wrong woman after wrong woman until some chick comes along and screams in his face on the roof of a building who it is exactly who's the right woman and sets him straight!" Helga laughed merrily from the other room.

Arnold just sighed and shook his head looked out the window in front of him. There was Trudy playing and twirling around in the backyard and her little pig Amber trotting along and jumping around with her. It reminded him of when he was little… He smiled, shaking his head and spoke to himself. "She really is something special. At least she's got an expert in love helping her grow up…and a Daddy who would do anything for her…and she's pretty smart on her own too."

From behind him the baby gurgled and hit the top of the table of his high chair. "Daddy, chocolate milk, pease!"

Arnold smiled and grabbed the sippy cup of chocolate milk and brought it over to his son who smiled and readily took it and started drinking. Arnold took a napkin and patted his chin as he needed it. "Oh and of course she has the best little brother in the world to help her too, Robert Phillip." Arnold chuckled. "I hope you do have it better than I did though, son. I went out with half a dozen girls who weren't right for me at all before I found your Mommy. That wasn't the hardest part though…" he sighed and almost frowned a little, "…the hardest part was being separate from your mommy for a while in between everything, having to take some time away from her to spend time with Grandpa Miles and Grandma Stella." He smiled again, wiping the baby's chin some more as he took a break between sips. "You won't have that problem though. We're all here together and no one's going anywhere, right, Little Phil?"

Little Phil smiled, putting down his cup. "Robut Phi-wip loves Daddy."

Arnold's smile and eyes brightened. "I love you too." He gave his son a kiss on the head.

"Hey Arnold, forget the cookies and cocoa for a minute!" Helga was back in the kitchen and she was cinching up her woolly, purple coat around herself and putting on some purple mittens to go with it. "Little Phil's already in his snowsuit and your coat and gloves are hanging on the coat rack in the foyer—let's go out with Trudy and have a snowball fight! What do you say?" She grinned at him, crossing her arms over her chest.

Arnold smiled widely and stood up from the table. "Sounds fun!" His eyes narrowed playfully and then he added as he went over to the stove to take off the hot cocoa pot. "But no 'boys versus girls' like last year—at least not until Robert Phillip has all of his motor skills, alright?" He walked over to her and held out a hand to her.

Helga just rolled her eyes but smiled and nodded, shaking his hand with her now mitten-covered one. "Oh alright, deal. Now let's get going! March, you two!"

She trotted over to the kitchen door and opened it. Some snow lightly blew inside. She called out to her daughter. "Hey, Trudy! We're joining you! Snowball fight! Oh but, uh, your dad says 'no boys versus girls,' _okay_?" Helga could be seen winking and then laughing as she went out to join Trudy, shutting the door behind her.

A laughing Arnold went over to Robert Phillip and picked him up and went to fetch his coat from the foyer. "Come on, son, we'll show them. Shortman men never go down without a fight." He played with the laughing baby's his chin and then Arnold slipped on his coat, one arm at a time, switching the arm he was holding the baby with as he went, put Little Phil's little hat on his head and little mittens on his hands, put gloves on his own hands and then the two boys headed over to the back door and out of it to join the girls for another wonderful Christmas tradition together.

* * *

**A/N:**

I hope you all liked that :) Thank you for reading and have a lovely day! I love you all ^_^

Happy Reading!

~Azure129 aka Jenna


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